Strumming Along
by Beatz
Summary: What's in a name? Well for Jericho his name contains untold secrets, a dark past, and a well known father. Now he's a Teen Titan struggling to keep himself from becoming his father's son.
1. Beginnings

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans in any form it's had. I did however twist it around to my liking.

Welcome to Jericho: The Story. Just kidding, it involves the other characters. Here's the skinny. It's about a year after the series finale, including the movie which I didn't really watch. There are some changes such as Terra's on the team since she was one of my favorite characters for the longest time. Also Robin and Starfire are together as a couple, sorry, but it seemed like it had to be done. Beast Boy has a crush on Terra... what else is new. Jericho has sort of just joined the team and this is about his experiences as they go along.

Currently there's no set person that Jericho will end up with. The rating may go up and down from M to T depending on what I decide to do with him. They don't know that his Slade's son, that's coming eventually. Oh yeah and he's mute, duh. I thought Jericho could use some love since he was only in two episodes, lame. I used to adore Teen Titans but my fandom slowly died when I hit my Sophomore Year of high school. This is my last love given to that show that I adored for a couple of years.

On another note, to everyone who reads "Blame it on Bad Luck", this does not mean it will be on hiatus. That will be updated soon, and this story is my little side project.

Now, enjoy. :D!

* * *

**Strumming Along**

**Chapter One: **Strange Occurrences

Strange how life can lead people to the most unexpected places with people who they thought they would never get along with. The people you would expect to make you extremely uncomfortable or even despise you with every fabric of their being end up being the people you live with. It was uncommon for people living on a mountain top to somehow end up living in luxury. Or in a letter for that matter, of course it was always uncommon for ordinary people to live in letters. Of course, Jericho wasn't an ordinary human and the people he lived with shared the same characteristic of lacking normality.

A bunch of misfits were taking refuge in a giant "T".

They earned their residence there. When screams echoed throughout the city due to even more strange occurrences like monsters or super villains, they sprung into action to save the day. The word 'hero' was an understatement compared to what they saw on a daily basis. One little word couldn't convey how much they put on the line for the oddly named city. Only a team of superheroes who lived in a giant "T" could call a place named Jump City their home.

Now it was Jericho's home, due to a strange merging of random events. Everyone there called him Jericho but he would still always answer to his full name, Joseph William Wilson or Joey for short. To many their names didn't mean much but in Joey's case his name carried a weight that would forever be on his shoulders. It was a miracle that his new team didn't know it. There would be too much conflict.

"Jericho, breakfast," an indifferent voice announced through the metal door.

There was no need for him answer, not like he could. At this point he should have been used to the little twists life can throw at a person. He considered the accident when he became mute to be one of those little twists. Yet another incident where his name carried such a troublesome burden on this his shoulders.

Setting down his acoustic guitar gently all he had to do was walk in front of the metal door before it whooshed open. The halls were quiet, dark, and still foreign to him. An inner voice still told him he didn't belong here. When did his powers come in handy? It was only a matter of time before they found out, and then everything would change. Knowing their team leader it wouldn't take too long. The files on the other teammates or allies were extensive, carefully documenting every minuscule fact about someone's life. Currently Jericho's was empty.

His footsteps echoed throughout the barren hallway, timidly taking in all of the sights and sounds before entering the vast room where everyone was located. It had only been a few days since they asked him to move in. Apparently the mountains in Tibet was a hike they didn't want him to endure again. If he had gotten there once he was quite confident he could do it again, but he knew deep down they wanted him as a spare for their team.

Laughter was echoing as he neared the door and it opened revealing a brightly lit main room. His eyes immediately looked to the huge windows surrounding what was the living room area. The aroma of pancakes was pungent. A huge stack was plopped right in the middle of the booth-like dining room table. Everyone was already there and staring at him when he made his entrance.

A blush came across his face as he waved at them all sheepishly.

"Hey! Check me out!" A fork twanged being pushed against the table making little bits of soy pancakes airborne. They landed safely in the mouth of his half-human, half-machine teammate who was now chewing happily.

An intimidating outer-appearance frightened many from talking to Cyborg. To Joey's knowledge there had been some sort of accident when he was younger that led him to his current state. Even if he didn't look it, he was the typical teenage boy who enjoyed girls, football, video games, and buffing up his car. When Jericho first encountered his robotic teammate the immense strength he possessed was stunning. A simple pat on the back knocked him to the floor and left him feeling the carpet on his chin for days to come.

An overjoyed snicker came from the green boy seated next to Cyborg then he held out a plate towards a pale, mauve-eyed girl seated across from him. "Come on, Raven. They're filled with soy goodness!"

Pointy ears were the first thing Joey had ever noticed about Beast Boy. Well that's a lie; it was his odd shade of green skin followed by his equally odd sense of humor. No matter what the mood was, this guy was always cracking jokes even if no one laughed or wanted to hear them. Every team needed comic relief and that's what he provided.

On the opposite side of personality traits stood the girl he was offering the soy pancakes to; Raven. Mysteries, weird, dark, indifferent, quiet, and intelligent were all the adjectives that came to mind in describing her. Deep down he knew that when you gained her trust then you were in, but that was a very hard thing to gain. Her opinions of people seemed impossible to sway especially after an incident with a certain blond girl. So far she was the only person who could communicate with him. The fact she could pry into your mind in a matter of seconds to read your thoughts, memories, emotions, and secrets was unnerving. So far she hadn't abused that power around him, only using her mind reading abilities to convey what he wanted to say with the others.

"Tea," she simply answered clutching the small, white teacup with her delicate fingers.

Typical response from the very secretive member of the group, it was what Jericho had grown used to in his few days of staying here. Stepping on her toes was something he was trying to avoid or she could spill everything that was concealed in the back of his mind. Remaining neutral was his strategy.

Another fork twanged. More pancakes became airborne but were landing in a different mouth, this time belonging to a female with long, straight blond hair. "See? I can so totally top that, Cy."

The certain blond girl that made Raven's trust even more difficult to gain now was chewing happily on soy pancakes; Terra. If there was one person who would destroy him for his name and family members, it would be her. The girl was now currently on probation after her betrayal of the team to gain more control over her wayward, geocentric powers. In the end she did realize she wasn't meant to be on the other side of the law and used herself as a sacrifice. To his knowledge when Raven had defeated her father everything that was stone turned to flesh, including their fallen friend. Her memories didn't officially return for a couple of months, instead she lived as a normal person going to a fancy school with uniforms The uniform was officially ditched for her midriff outfit when everything she had done slammed back into her mind.

"Do you wish to partake in the flinging of false pancakes, Robin?" Awkward English, but a huge grin on her orange-tinted face, with bright green eyes only for the leader of their team ,who looked slightly bored with the morning antics, that was Starfire.

Joey had met Beast Boy first, but with the way Starfire acted around people you would think it was her who swooped down and removed him from the mountain. Her hugs were about as soft as when Cyborg patted you on the back. If you wanted a stone cold definition of someone who didn't know their own strength it would be her. The most welcoming was her but she could also drive you nuts. There was still a lot for her to learn about earthly conduct even though her overly friendly ways were a breath of fresh air compared to the usually happy people you could waltz into on the streets. For an alien she was drop dead gorgeous but if you tried anything funny there would be a starbolt to answer to.

Finally the person who made him the most uncomfortable spoke. "No thanks, Star."

A masked face stared up at Joey and he was sure his face was not only red but looking extremely uncomfortable. No words were spoken instead the leader's face nodded towards the empty spot in the booth next to him. All he could do was nod, even if he could speak in this sort of situation he would probably end up without words. His feet began moving without a thought to protest, keeping his large green eyes glued to the floor. Everyone was paused watching him closely as he sat down next to their masked leader.

A plate filled to the brim with soy pancakes was plopped down in front of him catching him completely off guard. It felt like his heart was skipping beats, his eyes were probably wide in shock staring blankly at the plate trying to register what had happened, and on top of that he jumped six feet in the air. Well that's what he got for spacing out plus paying too much attention to the person sitting next to him.

Robin. Their leader. The one person who if his name was uttered would pin Joey against the wall with a knife prepared to slit his throat. No funny business. At this point in time he shouldn't still be worried or nervous around this guy. Digging up dirt on his past was like looking for the first bit of plant life that ever sprung from this earth. Even if he seemed introverted, Jericho made it quite impossible to uncover his tracks. Still there was no doubt in his mind that this boy couldn't find it even if it seemed impossible. Obsessive, neurotic, determined, serious, whatever words that were strung together to describe him in the end, he was still intimidating. After all the betrayal and harm his teammates had undergone in the past he made sure it didn't repeat itself. Exactly what made Jericho sweat bullets around him.

Right now he was confident that Robin did not fully trust him.

Everyone around him continued to enjoy their breakfast while chatting away, fully enjoying themselves. Joey looked down at the pancakes pretending to be immersed in the weird mix of ingredients plopped in front of him. Maybe poking it with a fork would better help him understand what exactly a soy pancake consisted of. Bad idea, now there was pancake attatched to his fork. It was better not to draw attention to himself and eat the stupid pancake. This was a new experience that he should embrace to its fullest potential with arms open. The fork moved slowly into Joey's mouth. A sour look crossed his face.

"_This tastes awful," _he thought swallowing the soft lump of pancake. A tingling remained on his tongue. There was still a full plate of pancake that stood in front of him. It's not like he could just leave it there that would be a waste, and he couldn't pipe up to say how awful it was. That would be a little rude. Oh man, how could these people stomach this? He couldn't live like this. How could anyone live like this?

His green eyes searched the table to see everyone eating happily. Well everyone except for Raven who was sipping her tea. Mauve eyes shot open to meet his. Quickly he looked away not before seeing the black-magic woman raising a curious eyebrow at him. A look like that meant she could be rummaging through his mind any second, quickly his mind went blank to deflect her. Still he looked around the table with a blank expression. Mustard as covering Starfire's plate, typical alien. Beast Boy was the vegan who was wolfing them down like a starving dog, Cyborg was sneaking bacon from a napkin concealed on his lap, Terra just seemed happy being fed, while finally Robin ate without any complaint.

A sigh escaped him. At this moment he wished he had a way to cope with these strange food choices. At this rate, it seemed like they always were eating soy pancakes so he might as well get used to it. He reluctantly shoveled another forkful into his mouth when something new caught his attention.

"Perhaps it is time that I learn to speak with hands."

Everyone looked up, and stopped talking, giving their full attention to Starfire. All, but Terra, looked a little skeptical and taken completely off guard by the statement. Jericho was still munching on his pancakes while giving his full attention to the alien-girl. What was the harm in her learning sign language? It didn't seem like too much of a big deal to him.

"Erm…" Robin sounded uneasy which was foreign to Joey's ears. "Doesn't that involved mouth-to-mouth contact, Star?"

A mouthful of soy pancakes ejected from Joey's mouth all over the table at those words. Mouth-to-mouth contact? Everyone was staring at him again, he felt himself melting into his seat. He was getting smaller feeling the heat rise to his face.

"Yes, but it is not good to have only one person being able to communicate with our friend, Jericho." Now Starfire was smiling brightly at Jericho who was still shrinking in his seat next to their leader who was emanating hate rays. "On my planet, a simple meeting of the mouths is an easy way to exchange all types of languages, even it does mean more here."

Robin was sending Starfire an awful look for bringing such a subject up. Immediately she seemed to key onto what her boyfriend was getting at. Her throat cleared giving everyone the table a quick glance, "There shall be no feelings attatched."

A lump was forming in Joey's already dry throat. The only other person in the room who seemed to be as oblivious as him was Terra whose eyes were glued on the two squabbling teammates across from her. Raven seemed to be the only person who was calm among everyone with her delicate, pale fingers still wrapped around the white teacup now against her lips. Her eyes were closed but he knew entirely well she was aware of the situation around her. For a moment he was entranced in the way this girl was moving, everything around her seemed to calm and detached from all emotion. It was making him curious to get into that very secluded mind of hers. In his presence she had only spoken a couple of times, rarely involving full sentences. Most of her time seemed to be spent in her room that no one was allowed to go into. Everytime she wasn't around he was forced to communicate only using a notepad and a lime-green pen Starfire had given him one day.

Raised voices snapped him back into reality.

"Robin! Perhaps our team would be better off with another person who could communicate in a way our mute comrade can comprehend," Starfire's voice was pleading with their leader, trying to reason with him and keep him at ease.

Boy, for someone who seemed completely arrogant so self-assured all the time, Robin sure did get very self conscious when it involved Starfire. The other team members still remained silent during the feud. Joey wasn't even sure it was a feud since the only person's voice that was raised was Robin's. No matter how loud and harsh Robin's voice became, Starfire's seemed calm and relaxed. That either meant one of two things. One, she hardly ever got mad or two, that you really shouldn't mess with her once she did lose her temper.

A defeated sigh sounded next to Joey. The battle had been won by Starfire.

Now what was supposed to happen? An awkward silence fell over the seven as Jericho's eyes curiously fluttered around the room. Tension was building in the air, and he didn't know what to expect next. Perhaps he was supposed to brace himself for the unexpected. A green flash whizzed by him. His eyes widened in surprise to see an empty seat that only a few seconds ago housed his overly bouncy teammate. Something grabbed him by the collar lifting him out of his seat. His feet were kicking slightly desperately trying to find where the ground was. His eyes were closed tightly when he realized there probably wasn't any ground for him to stand on. Sheepishly he opened them only to see Starfire's face, looking serious, staring down at him. Being held up by his collar wasn't something he was enjoying. Why couldn't she do this on the ground?

The girl leaned forward, pursing her lips towards his. How many times had this girl down this before? She seemed like a seasoned veteran coming towards him feeling nothing at all. Usually he probably wouldn't mind being kissed by an extremely beautiful girl, but he had a feeling he was already on thin ice with their leader and kissing his girlfriend would probably only make the matter worse.

Oh man, it was his first kiss.

Come to think of it… that's pretty sad since he's seventeen.

Maybe he should've kissed sooner…

What if Starfire was a good kisser and he wasn't? Now his hormones and nerves were raging. If his face was red before, he didn't want to know how red it was now. Everything felt like slow motion and he slammed his eyes shut finally feeling hers pressed against his. His eyes shot open looking around the room frantically. _"Is that mustard I taste?" _Even with lips closed he could taste a savory hint of mustard. It wasn't as glamorous, the room wasn't spinning, and instead he felt like he was a dead man.. His feet had stopped kicking and floated in mid-air, limp and lifeless.

Finally after what felt like hours, though in reality it was only fifteen seconds, her lips broke away from his and she dropped him to the floor. Too bad the floor was very high up from where they were. The room was now spinning and Jericho was lying only two inches away from the booth were he was sitting earlier. Her aim was bad and his eyes were clenched shut with pain running throughout his frail body.

With his head still throbbing he opened his eyes to a pair of huge blue eyes. Long, blond hair was all around him. The look on Terra's face was odd like she didn't know whether to help him up or poke him.

"Are you okay, Dude," she asked sitting up slightly then adjusting her goggles prominently displayed on her forehead.

No, he was not okay. In fact he was resisting the urge to writhe around in pain on the floor in front of everyone. But he couldn't give that answer so instead he nodded with a weak smile. This wasn't fun; he couldn't live life like this for much longer.

Joey stood up abruptly only to find everyone staring at him with an eager look on their faces especially Starfire and minus Robin who looked like he had a stick up his ass. Now what did they want from him? Terra stood up then bouncing in front of him grinning from ear to ear.

"_So?_ Sign something! C'mon! We all wanna know if it worked. Duh!" Her attitude was a little overbearing like if he didn't comply with her demands then it would be worse then kicking a puppy.

Ever since he became mute, it was difficult to find people who could sign. Now he had a chance to finally have a conversation with someone, without being in someone else's body or through his mind, and he didn't even have anything to say. Once again the blush was returning and Beast Boy bounded up next to Terra with adoring eyes then looking at him.

"We're waiting!" The pointy-eared boy yelled into his ear making Jericho cringe like there was no tomorrow.

At first Beast Boy didn't even realize he was mute and now that he did, he constantly confused it with being deaf. Everytime he talked it was yelling in one of his ears. At this rate, he was going to be deaf. Jericho chewed on his lip for a moment now noticing Raven looking a little interested. Even if her face was blank he could tell she wanted to know if the little lip lock worked.

"I need more picks for my guitar." He signed swiftly and quickly in Starfire's direction.

From the look on her face he could tell she was taking in what he had just said then translating it into her own language. Then her hands moved as at ease as his did signing back with, "I shall inform Cyborg."

"Jericho wishes to be escorted to the city so he may purchase some of picks of the guitar."

Everyone perked up feeling a sense of relief that it had worked. Right now he was feeling more and more like a burden. His powers were restricted and he couldn't even engage in everyday conversation without someone having to translate for him. Actually he would miss having Raven tap into his mind and speaking for him. Usually he felt so distant from the team members and for those brief moments he felt like he belonged. Sometimes he would even have little conversations with the dark girl in crowded rooms. Now he had Starfire.

"Well, I'm glad that all worked out." Robin stood up leaving an empty plate in front of him.

There was tension and it grew worse when the masked boy grabbed Starfire by the upper-arm protectively giving Joey a warning glare. Joey stiffened up watching self-consciously as Robin led the girl out of the room without a word. This didn't seem to bother anyone like it was a common occurrence since they returned from Tokyo. Then there were five.

"Hey, BB. I totally can kick your butt at Mega-Space Monkeys Melee." With that Terra whisked a very compliant Beast Boy away to the couch.

Now there were three.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joey could see Raven standing up and Cyborg was doing the same. Now what was going to happen? Knowing what has happened over the past couple of days; they would go off and do their own thing while he would be stuck alone. His eyes shut for a moment as he let out a sigh. Even with all that excitement earlier nothing had changed. Maybe he had gotten his hopes up.

A hand was now on his shoulder, his eyes shot open to see his half-metal teammate, "Come on, man. I'll take ya to the city. You wanna come, Rae?"

A small smile spread across Joey's face as he nodded in agreement. Now there was the matter of Raven coming. Part of him wanted her to come along for the ride even if Cyborg would probably be dropping him off in the city then drive off in the quest to find auto-parts.

"Only if you'll drop me off at the library," she replied in her normally raspy voice with the same indifferent expression.

The car ride was not as he imagined. There was silence followed by an argument about the radio station. Jericho sat quietly in the back seat watching the two polar opposites debate whether they should listen to hip-hop over NPR. Not like it mattered since they would be in the actual city in less than three minutes. Eventually it was Raven who won when she threatened she would blow up Cyborg's precious car if she didn't get her daily dose of culture over the sexist lyrics of some overly obscene rapper. It felt like full on war within a small, enclosed space. If only he could've dug himself a small trench.

The driver was pouting as they listened to someone with a thick British accent give out their opinion on a South African musician. Raven stared directly out of the window at the buildings drifting by in a blur. Through the rearview mirror, Joey studied the girl now with her hood on. No wonder she was so pale, that stupid cloak shielded her from the sun's rays. Maybe she had a deathly fear of getting sunburned or something. The girl's eyes narrowed as if she could sense that he was thinking about her. A feeling shot through his head like something was pushing through his mind.

"_Stop that," _he thought instantly looking towards the mats on the car floor.

The girl's mauve eyes were still narrowed when she simply stated, "Jericho wants to get out here."

What?! Was this payback for just staring at her? Well he sure learned his lesson now.

"Really? Well… okay." The sad thing was Cyborg was actually doing what she was saying, that crazy witch. The car came to a slow stop and the door popped open. "We'll pick you up here in two hours, kay?"

There was no way he was getting out of this car; he began to shake his head in disagreement when he felt something enter his mind again. This was madness his limbs were now moving by themselves as he exited the car. A forced smile came to his face while he involuntarily waved good-bye, closing the door behind him. The T-car jetted away leaving Joey high and dry. Great now he was standing far away from where he needed to be in a foreign city.

Memo to self, don't stare at crazy, pale chick or she will possess you.

Now he had two hours to prance around a strange, new city in hopes of finding guitar picks. This wasn't his day.

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End Chapter One. At first I was going to add more to this chapter but then decided against it feeling that what I was going to add would be better suited in Chapter Two. 

So yeah, please read & review. It's good to hear feedback on whether I'm wasting my time or not. Thanks to everyone who does read and review. You are awesome :D!


	2. Trial

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans or any of their characters.

**Chapter Two**: Take Me On

Stranded, that's what Jericho was. Not only that but he was stranded wearing tights in a city that was confusing and crowded. Shoulders collided hardly against his with enough force to knock him to the ground. The world was in a hurry and taking no prisoners. Where was the common courtesy to say 'excuse me'? What a day, two teammates officially hated him. Of course Robin had a completely valid reason while Raven just seemed overly moody.

Streets were crowded to the brim with people; everyone was wrapped up in their own world. It was intimidating. It was up to him to fend for himself. Now where to begin? If only he could see over the millions of heads that were trailing before him. All molding into one large blur in front of him. An overly muscular, bald man slammed into him almost forcing him to wander aimlessly into a nervous looking girl clutching an unbalanced tray of coffee in her hands. An impatient grunt sounded from the man and Jericho smiled meekly now following the crowd.

How ridiculous, he was being bullied into walking forward.

Calmly he slipped into a nearby alleyway, clutching his hand to his chest. His breaths were quick without their normal rhythm. In his mind he was cursing his temperamental teammate for indirectly forcing him into an alleyway. A sigh escaped him as he began to feel hopeless. The personality he possessed was not one of a superhero. Superheroes were brave, confident, and didn't allow anyone to push them around. Shy Joey couldn't be like that. His back slid slowly down the side of the building until he felt the cold asphalt below him. Perhaps if he was more like Robin then this would be easier.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, this all wasn't new. All along he knew deep down that becoming a hero with the upbringing he had experienced would be difficult. Siblings before him had cracked under the pressure following obediently and blindly in their father's footsteps leaving Jericho alone.

"Joey," a soft voice called. It belonged to a beautiful, kind woman with wavy brown hair that fell beneath her soft shoulders.

Bright green eyes looked up at the woman from behind shaggy blond bangs. There was a gentle, naïve spirit behind those eyes. "Yes, Mother?"

It was a soft voice that briefly belonged to Joey. Little did he know that voice would escape him a few months later leaving him silent. The look on his mother's face was soft and foretelling tough times ahead. Her brown eyes softened while getting on one knee before him. One of her hands moved slowly brushing his golden curls out of his face.

That day was one that would forever remain in the back of his mind. The two were standing on the front porch of their house located in a suburban neighborhood. There was sun shining brightly in the sky and Joey had been playing alongside the other kids in the neighborhood for hours on end. Dirt covered his body from head to toe. A small cut was forming on his right cheek from running past a tree branch carelessly.

Nothing was said. Instead his mother licked her thumb then began rubbing his cut gently to clean it of the invading dirt. A soft smile spread across her face, leaving a young Joey confused.

"What's the matter?"

That little spot of concern seemed to derail his mother's expression. For some reason he could always read his mother like a book. Something had happened a couple of weeks ago that's what he knew for sure. There was yelling and names being tossed around from each side. That's all he could recall at this moment.

Shaking her head, his mother continued to clean off his fair cheeks. "Nothing… Just promise me that you will stay the gentle soul you are now."

Was a promise of that nature even something he was able to keep? Genetics before him proved that he would end up walking the same line that his older brother before him had walked. Sometimes it seemed easier to twist off of the path he was walking following obediently of what was expected for his family. The term 'like father like son' came to mind whenever he looked in the mirror. Even at the age of five he seemed to comprehend that his family wasn't all too normal. The so-called father figure was barely around and when he was there was always a fuss over his older brother, Grant.

A crash sounded only a few feet away snapping him out of thought.

If there was one thing he didn't want to get involved in right now, it was a fight of any kind. Snapping to his feet he ran as quickly as possible out of that dark alleyway. It's not that he couldn't easily possess any person who popped up at him, well unless they were armed with a burlap bag, it's just that he didn't feel like dealing with anything or anyone right now.

He was having a bad day.

Something soft collided with him. Okay maybe he should've been watching where he was going. Whatever he collided with was stable enough on their two feet to knock Jericho right to the ground. Small cuts now cluttered the palms of his hands as he looked up with an apologetic expression to the person he had just bumped into.

Tinted pink sunglasses stared directly down at him; blue eyes were concealed behind the thick magenta frames. The expression was unreadable, caught somewhere between annoyed, bemused, and pensive. A completely pink outfit adorned the girl's small frame even topped off with a pink headband in her blond hair. She lifted her sunglasses to her forehead, her eyes immediately falling onto his communicator.

"A Titan," she spat suddenly lifting him to his feet by the collar of his shirt.

Today was obviously not the day to be his collar. A closer inspection of her face revealed that she was intrigued by him. With no words to speak all he did was nod. Once again her blue eyes scanned him from head to toe, narrowed, before she placed him on his flat feet. Depending on the person, being a Titan could be extremely good or extremely bad. Right now he wanted the lesser of two evils but he hadn't been experienced either side enough to know which one it was. The girl before him seemed snobby so she couldn't be what Beast Boy referred to as a "fangirl", which the green-skinned boy said he had many of, but the girl didn't seem threatening enough to be on the other side of the spectrum.

The girl's head was now tilted to the side. "Can you speak? What the hell are you, a freakin' mute?"

Wow, what a sour interior on such a sweet looking exterior. Maybe she wore so much pink to disguise her obviously sour and tainted personality. He had a feeling that if he told her the truth by nodding then she would push him through the plate-glass store window next to them. Where all women this hostile? So far he had only seen the hostile side of the fairer sex. Raven and this girl should start a book club.

Sheepishly he nodded.

"Is that so? Well finding you was easier than I expected."

Huh?! What the hell was that supposed to mean? Before he could even protest through unwilling facial expressions and the failing of his arms, the girl was dragging him off by the arm into the nearest café. It felt like he was being abducted by someone the police would never expect to be a crazed killer. At this rate he was only going to get more lost than he already was. All he wanted out of this trip was a simple packet of guitar picks not to be thrown out of the car too early then dragged away by some pink nightmare.

The girl put her elbows on the table, resting her tan chin on her hands with an amused smile. Jericho sat there tensely with his hands glued to his lap. His eyes were darting around the room only to see a couple of waitresses running around to occupied tables. There was no one there to help him. Everyone was too busy wrapped up in their own lives and affairs. A small chuckle escaped the girl, her piercing blue eyes shot open. Panic ran through him with her eyes directly glued to him.

In some way the girl reminded him of Terra, only by appearance, maybe if the geomancer had cut her hair and paid more attention to applying makeup.

"Pull down your collar."

That was a crazy demand coming from an equally crazy girl. Normally people would ask you your name instead of demanding to see the skin of your neck. Maybe it was some weird fetish. Well he wasn't going to put up a fight especially in a public place such as this café. Drawing attention to the situation at hand would probably only make it worse.

With no complaints or protest he monotonously pulled down the collar of his white turtleneck, rolling his eyes in the process. There was nothing really special to show.

The girl leaned over the wooden table with full attention on his neck. Lazily she brushed her fingers alongside a gash-like scar on the front of his neck, near his vocal chords. So she was testing to see if his scar was real, that only added on the eccentricities of this entire ordeal. A shiver ran through his body at the girl's ice cold touch. It had been a long time since someone had seen those scars, and he had long forgotten they were even there. Another reminder of who his family was.

"Well, well. I never would've expected his son to be so cute."

Now she had retreated back to her seat with a cup of coffee placed in front of her. As she spoke she tossed a tuft of her shiny, blond hair over her shoulder and he could've sworn that she purred. Joey's nose wrinkled trying to figure out what she was getting at. A normal person couldn't possibly know who he was, at least not this soon after coming here.

An index finger was circling the rim of her coffee cup. "You fit the picture. Isn't amazing how fast word travels in a special circle of people? I mean if your teammates knew what I do then you would be an outcast, now wouldn't you, Joey?"

Chewing on his lip, Jericho was now avoiding as much eye contact as possible with her, knowing well enough what she was building up to. It was only a matter of…

"Don't you want to see your Daddy?"

Too late.

Instantly he stood up. This was becoming too much. There was no way he was going to see his own father, no way he was going to end up the way his older brother did. A promise was a promise even if it was the promise of a lifetime and extremely hard to keep. Being a hero meant that he had to fight on the side against his father and never lay eyes on him unless it was during combat. How ridiculous that this girl was trying to coax him into betraying a team that was slowly accepting him. The choice to fight alongside the Teen Titans was made the day the Brotherhood of Evil was disbar raged.

The reaction he had only seemed to tickle her.

"It's only a matter of time, he's looking for you. You can't run from it forever."

Once again he was running from a problem leaving the pink-themed girl at the café table. Right now he didn't care where he was going all he wanted was to get as far away from that girl as possible. What could she have meant by 'he's looking for you'? Jericho thought it was completely obvious that he never wanted to see his father again especially after the falling out his parents had. There was too much that he had tucked away in his subconscious that would only be flushed out again with a visit from his father. If he did appear then his cover would be blown, the Titans would never accept him and everything he had tried to do would be ruined. Maybe he wasn't cut out for this hero business.

"Why so glum?"

A raspy, indifferent voice, it could only belong to the girl who casually tossed him out of the car earlier. Jericho somehow ended up smack dab in the middle of the city's park carefully hiding out on a bench near the pond. This hiding spot proved to be ineffective when one of the few people he didn't want to see right now showed up. Instead of acknowledging her existence he thought it was best to remain in his position; looking down at the ground with his elbows on his knees. A feeling in the back of his mind mused to him that this pale girl would probably be yet another person who would castrate him for his name.

His eyes were dead locked on the navy shoes belonging to the girl still standing in front of him. Even if she wasn't saying a word he had the feeling that she wasn't going to leave without a proper response from him. After all he was mute, not deaf. A sigh escaped him as he looked up to see the hooded girl staring at him blankly; a book was clutched in her left hand. Any second he was anticipating the feeling of her rummaging through his mind.

"_You pushed me out of the car," _he lied in his thoughts feeling the fuzzy tingling of another person's mind mingling with his own.

"You stared at me."

Fair enough.

The fact she cared baffled him. Actually he wasn't fully sure if what she was doing was caring. Usually when people cared they didn't have an apathetic look on their face hidden behind the security of a hood. What kind of crazy person still walked around wearing a hood anyways? They weren't in the Dark Ages. He was one to talk, running around in tights and a purple get up. Maybe it was some subconscious way of trying to distinguish himself from his family. Purple seemed like a safe and happy color.

The girl standing before him was the first barrier to overcome before he could be a full member of the team. To the untrained person she would seem like a challenge but to him he knew the real difficulty was lying within his favorability with their leader. Starfire liked Joey, okay Starfire liked everyone, but that would probably help lean their masked boy wonder in his favor. Maybe he could get through this without the extensive background checks.

An awkward silence took over. Normally silences didn't bother him but this one seemed full of unspoken tension like there was something on the tip of their tongues they wanted to say but couldn't.

"Look," she began giving him a dead on stare, "I have to baby-sit tonight and since you have nothing better to do. Then you might as well help out."

Babysitting? This made him cock an eyebrow at her. The aura this girl gave off didn't seem like the maternal type. If he was a young child then he wouldn't want her to be his main source of care, even for a couple of hours. After the stunt she pulled with him in the car all he could see was her making the children do her bidding. Scrubbing the toilets, making her tea, destroying everything pink Starfire had accumulated in the house those all seemed like likely scenarios from his observations over the past few days. Also the fact that she was assuming he had nothing better to do made him a little huffy. How would she know? What a pain, she couldn't just assume basic things like that.

Even if they were completely correct.

Babysitting! It was turning out to be a nightmare. Who would've guessed that he wasn't too good with children?

Jericho wished his hands were glued tightly to his suffering ears, but then the blond nightmare before him would never shut up. Panic was running through his body as he continued to scour the empty Tower for the elusive, blue blanket that belonged to the screaming child across the room. There was no mention of babysitting freaky children with strange, annoying powers when Raven mentioned babysitting. Unfortunately he was the only sucker around to be doing this sort of torture. A note left haphazardly on the refrigerator revealed that Starfire plus the unwilling Robin went out dancing. Then it was added at the bottom in curly handwriting that Terra wanted to show Beast Boy another fair on the outskirts of town. Who knew when all of them would come back? Before they left Cyborg pulled up to tell them he would be spending extra time in the body shop. It was just him and the moody, witch girl.

"Where's my blanket?!"

Alongside three superhuman children…

What was even more mind-blowing was the fact that he was now crawling around on the carpet of the living room searching for the elusive blue blanket. A corner of blue fabric caught his attention joyfully he reached for it. All along it was hiding underneath their oddly shaped couch. There was something tugging on it, so with full force he pulled it out only to reveal another child attatched to it at the mouth.

This is becoming ridiculous. The blond-haired toddler looked up at him with huge eyes. Lying there on the floor he watched with full attention as the child detached himself from the blanket. Sweet relief, now he could make the other child calm down. Right now he wished he knew their names. Upon entering the door they were greeted by the agonizing screams without much needed introductions. Hopefully he wasn't this much of a nuisance when he was a child.

Jericho stood up, tossing the blue blanket to the screaming child. Now there was silence and he had never been so happy to not hear any noise in his life. If being a Teen Titan meant he would have to watch little, a super powered child, or three, then he wasn't cut out for this life. How could anyone stay calm during this? It was a little overwhelming, all he wanted to do was make everyone happy.

Chomp!

"_What the…" _ Something soft and wet was chewing on his boot. His eyes fell to the floor to find the blond baby who had been chewing on the blanket to now enjoying himself with his footwear. Would this day ever end? The mute began shaking his leg wildly trying to somehow dislodge the baby from his boot.

"Your boyfriend sorta sucks at this, blue girl."

A small girl was standing next to Raven near the entrance to the main room. At that moment he could've sworn that he saw the girl's perfectly symmetrical pigtails move. Children always seemed to assume that older people were always dating each other if they were of the opposite sex. Instead of responding back all the mauve-eyed girl did was shoot the small child a warning look.

Jericho hit the floor with a thud. Once again the carpet somehow found contact with his chin or cheeks while the baby was still gnawing happily on his purple boot. Shooting Raven a pleading look he hoped that they still had a psychic connection. All she was doing was standing there watching while he was being mauled by a bunch of children with completely difficult special abilities. Her hood was pulled down and revealed that she had a slightly amused look on her face.

Was he just entertainment for her?

"_Why aren't you helping me," _he thought feeling whiney and helpless in this situation. Now this girl would probably think he was weak or something. Just because he couldn't handle children did not mean he was weak.

Her eyes rolled at his comment. Great their minds were still linked. There was a pout on his face, maybe he could appeal to her better nature. Footsteps echoed from the other side of the room, meaning that both Raven and her little companion were coming to his aid. How odd it was that he could help dismantle a major evil superpower but he couldn't take care of a toddler.

"Don't give me that look."

Jericho was watching her closely, still keeping the pout pasted onto his face to see what she would do. Prior experience told him that she had an extremely short fuse. His mind was no longer focused on the small child attatched to his boot. This girl made him slightly curious. One second she would have a hard exterior, then the next she would be making jokes. Women sure were confusing and he wasn't having any luck so far in this city with them. One had thrown him out of the car, another had kissed him eleven feet in the air, and finally a crazy pink nightmare brought him news about his father. If memory served him correctly, Raven was not a fan of his father either. Keeping up this cerate would be death of him.

"Don't fidget so much. It's a toddler not the plague," she commanded kneeling down at his feet gently tugging the child off of his leg.

How unfair, she could remove him with such ease. Maybe she had a secret soft spot for children. A small smile of gratitude appeared on his face when he came to his knees. A fuzzy feeling was nuzzling at the back of his mind; a pensive look was on Raven's face. It wasn't alarming but it seemed like she was curious to know what was running through his mind at that moment in time. Weird, she didn't seem like the type to dig through people's minds. Instantly he put a mental wall, blocking her from going in a little too deep. The expression she had changed, but they continued to kneel there staring at each other face-to-face.

"Ohhhhh," the interruption came from the overly excited blond girl with pigtails now a couple of inches away from each of their faces. "Bobby thinks there are sparks-a-flyin'!"

Still pensive, Raven stood up pulling her hood back over her head leaving Jericho kneeling on the floor with all three of the children. A sigh escaped him. The look on her face wasn't exactly comforting, if she was prying around in his mind there was no telling what she could've uncovered. There was no doubt that she could easily bring down his mental wall, but she seemed far too detached emotionally to do such a thing. Children really seemed to be able to speak whatever's on their minds and that seemed to break up the slightly awkward situation. Right now he was thinking he owed this girl a cookie or something.

All Joey could see was the back of a dark blue cloak that was slowly turning his way. "So you have secrets?"

He began to chew on his lip again. Secrets were something that tore teams apart, now this girl realized that he was keeping something from everyone. Running a hand through his blond hair he was beginning to think he should come clean. If he did it sooner rather than later then maybe he wouldn't be in as much trouble. Again he looked up, it's like she was waiting for him to say, well think, something.

Glass shattered around him, his eyes widened in surprise. A green and black flash entered the Tower through the window slamming Raven onto the floor in what seemed like a natter of seconds. Instantly rising to his feet, he ran as fast as he could over to her side. There seemed to be nothing wrong, instead the witch girl was sitting up with an aggravated expression.

Her mauve eyes fell upon Joey as she commanded, "Get Melvin, Timmy, and Teether out of here, now."

With no hesitation he nodded looking around the room. Glass covered the floor while the group of super-children was huddled in the corner of the room behind a huge, stuffed bear. There hadn't been a huge, stuffed bear there before. Joey shook his head wildly hoping to open his eyes and see the bear vanished. Opening his eyes slowly, he found no such luck with the presence of the bear still in front of the group.

The flash swept by again cluttering the floor with more broken glass from the windows. None of this seemed to bother Raven, instead she maintained calm and composed manner floating up into the air with ease. Whatever this flash was it came out suddenly only to create chaos, not really targeting anyone in particular. The team was probably used to these sorts of ambushes so that would probably be the reason for her composure under this intense type of situation.

Alert, that's what he had to be. Taking a deep breath he began to cross the room to get to the huddled bunch of kids. Glass crushed underneath his boots as the flash kept whizzing back and forth across the room. A sharp pain ran through his body, something sharp had just slashed across his back. Blood trickled down the back of his shirt, staining the carpet. Wincing he kept pushing on to find himself unable to move. His eyes frantically moved around the room then finally moved to the floor. Thick black ropes were wrapped around his small ankles with something white attatched. The black ropes moved slightly revealing a head attatched to them. That meant those weren't black ropes; it was human hair. The head spun around swiftly revealing a grinning cat mask as Joey hit the floor with a thud. Glass cut into his already wounded back. The strange masked girl was only adding insult to injury with her vindictive smile painted on.

Eyes clenched in pain, he opened them to see the masked villain looking down at him, her body pressed against his. One of her claws was lifted up, ready to strike. If only he could see her eyes, then making eye contact would be so simple. Unfortunately body possession wasn't too useful when only fighting one opponent. The mask she was wearing was familiar. Somewhere in his mind he knew he had seen that mask somewhere before. The long locks of her sturdy, black hair had him tied down. What kind of person used hair as a weapon?

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" A part of the couch glided across the room knocking the masked girl off of Joey.

Sitting up he noticed the girl gracefully back flipping until she gained stable ground on the other side of the room. The graceful movements finally revealed who she was in his memory; Chesire. It looked like Raven was ready to hit her with another couch, already charging up another amount of black energy that was enveloping the piece of furniture. Pain shot through Joey's shoulder blade. Blood was still flushing from his body staining his outfit while his nerves screamed in agony. This was worse than having a burlap sack on your head.

The cunning Chesire pushed off of the wall becoming airborne releasing a manila envelope from her sleeve. It floated in the air for a couple of moments before he could read the fine lettering; _Joseph_. Without a thought he grabbed it, stuffing it into his shirt for safe keeping. There was only one person who would address him by that name, and he was becoming a nuisance. His eyes soon darted around the room again landing on the assassin. Obviously she didn't come here to kill him; she was merely the messenger this time meant to rile him up. Knowing his father this was his way of telling his son that he knew he was here.

Black hair constricted around his teammate's small body. With one small movement Chesire whipped the purple-haired witch into the ground, soon taking her exit in a green and black flash. Impulse commanded his body for him running through the pain to catch the falling Raven. Sadly the force she slammed into his arms with combined with her body weight caused his knees to buckle upon impact. They both lied there in a heap of purple and blue on the glass covered floor; Raven on top of his body. A moan of agony came from her direction while the children sat safe and sound in the corner. No other noise followed.

More broken glass was digging into his knees. A small amount of blood trickled from the corner of Raven's fair lips. The impact must have been a little too hard. There wasn't the steady rhythm of breathing. Oh man, she's not breathing. Trying to piece together his thoughts Joey laid her down carefully on the floor, seeing the trio of super-children still huddling in the corner waiting the command for them to move. He bit his lip knowing that he would have to use mouth-mouth resuscitation. So far he was making short work out of lip locking with his fellow teammates; next he was pretty sure it would be Terra or Beast Boy's turn.

Wasting time by overanalyzing wasn't what he should be doing. Taking a deep breath he crossed his palms together and pressed her abdomen, making sure to count in his head. Then he opened her mouth, pressing his against hers breathing his air into her mouth. A series of "oh-s" and "ah-s" came from the corner. The witch's mauve eyes shot open, narrowing slightly when she noticed herself connected with her teammate at the mouth. Taking her eyes shooting open as a good sign, Joey recoiled looking down at her feeling extremely relieved. Letting a teammate die wouldn't go well with Robin. A small amount of blood splattered on his face as Raven let out a hard cough, gasping for air.

Ew… that was something he could have lived without.

Not like it really mattered anyway, he was already covered in blood from the slash marks Chesire had landed on his back. There was also the matter of the shards of glass opening new wounds throughout his knees and back as well. At least Raven seemed to make it out without serious damage and the children hadn't even been touched. For all they knew, Chesire had just randomly attacked, but he knew the real reason why.

Indifferently Raven wiped her mouth with the back of her hand looking around the room to assess the damage while Jericho knelt besides her just waiting for her to say something. The damage wasn't extensive, a few broken windows, and a couch was misplaced but nothing too grave. It wasn't the assassin's mission to destroy the place, it was only Chesire's job to drop off the letter, shake him up, and toy around with whoever he was with for fun.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Raven beginning to sit up, her eyes directly fixed on him with an unreadable expression. "Thanks."

A shrug was his reply to her gratitude; it was what he had to do. Anyone else on the team would've gladly done the same thing for her or the others for that matter. Maybe if he wasn't so weak he could've prevented the wind being knocked from her in the first place. A small amount of blood dripped to the floor, catching their attention. Great, he hadn't stopped bleeding yet now he was ruining their carpeting.

"Maybe I should help you bandage up." The offer was nice but she seemed to have forgotten about the children still located in the corner of the room. Also there was the entire chore of having to repair the Tower before the others came back.

On the verge of saying yes Joey noticed something peculiar, that the purple-haired girl has placed her hand subconsciously on his chest. The letter was snuggly concealed right underneath where her hand was on his body. Bandaging up would mean the letter would fall out in plain sight, so that wasn't such a good idea. And was he the only one a little unnerved by her sudden interest in placing her hand on his chest? This girl was complicated.

With a final decision in his mind he shook his head, slowly removing her hand from his chest with a small smile. _"You should clean up, and take care of the kids. I don't want to be a burden."_

Once more the look on Raven's face became pensive, taking her hand back a little harshly. Her words became distant and apathetic again, "Fine."

Ugh, now she was going back to being 'Miss Moody' again. Before standing up he watched her gracefully walk to the side of the room checking on the children, even if she tried to put up a front that she could hardly care less about them, it was evident that she never wanted anything bad to happen to them. The youngest one wanted up with tears brimming on the edges of his eyes, Raven picked him up gently, rocking him back and forth slightly looking at the other two who were talking with enthusiasm about something. Her free hand began to pick up pieces of fallen glass, formulaically using her black magic to piece them together.

Letting out a sigh, Joey exited the room into the empty, dark hallway. With relief boiling over inside of him he placed his beaten back against the cold, metal wall taking in deep breaths while he clutched his shirt where the letter was concealed. Even if there were other people present in the Tower, he felt a little alone.

* * *

That's the end of the second chapter. Lemme see... well I rewrote the entire Kitten scene, when it was first drafted up it ended up making little to no sense. It was written when I had a headache so I rewrote it later. Also, I'm probably going to make the character of Kitten a little less useless, maybe giving her powers or something. Oh yeah, almost all the villains are the little minions of Slade and his mommy is officially nice.

Joey got his second kiss, but hasn't even had a real one yet. Poor little guy. There still isn't any set couple in this story yet, but Kole will be appearing in the chapters to come. There will be talk of Grant in future chapters, too.

It's very angsty. :D!

Finally to my "Blame it on Bad Luck" readers who are patiently waiting, the next chapter will probably be up next week. I'm not neglecting that story, I just wanted to get this one rolling.

Thank you for reading this and hopefully reviewing. xP There will be more to come.


	3. First

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans or any of their characters.

**READ ME! Very Important Author's Note: **Okay before you move onto to this chapter there's some fessing up that has to be done. Everyone who's a comic book fan will pretty much go, "WTF?" at this chapter because I have altered some of Joey's history to fit the story. Grant shall make an appearance and I have done my research but I did tweak the history to fit my story, and the cartoon for that matter.

That's all, read on. ;D

**Chapter Three**: First Crushed

An hour had passed. Nothing had been accomplished in that short period of time. The infirmary was lined with lights, expensive equipment, and a row of beds located near the windows. It smelled sterile and somewhat comforting with its cabinet lined walls and white floor that you could see your reflection in. There Joey sat on one of the infirmary beds; Indian style with the simplistic envelope positioned in front of him. For the past hour he hadn't even changed out of his blood-soaked clothes instead he spent every minute slowly reaching for the envelope then recoiling with second thoughts. Whether the gashes in his back got infected wasn't one of his concerns at the moment.

What was concealed behind the envelope wasn't frightening to him. Instead it was the thought of being caught with something that held power over the people around him. The mere mention of his father's name seemed to bring out the beast in everyone.

His hand still recoiled after another failed attempt to peel open the letter. Slowly his mind was drifting back to the last time he had seen his father with no strings attatched. The last time he saw him without having any regret about being his child or without wishing he had a normal family.

It wasn't really a happy day. The weather would've indicated otherwise since the sun was shining brightly in the sky on a warm, spring day. Still everytime the wind would blow; it made the air feel more like winter. Inside a small church was a young Joey, only around the age of seven. On one side was his mother looking solemn and pale while he stood there in a line near a casket. A clammy hand took hold of his knowing that he was too young and too naïve to understand the situation at hand. The black suit that adorned his body was starting to get itchy and he couldn't stand more people coming up and hugging him while he got a whiff of their overly pungent perfume.

Every few seconds, his large green eyes would drift towards the casket knowing very well what it was hiding inside. Only one family member seemed to be missing from the line; his older brother, Grant. A foreign hand brushed against the back of his head catching his attention if only for a moment. First he glanced at his mother seeing her normally bright eyes turned sullen as she looked forward with one hand still latched onto his. There was someone new when he turned his head slightly to the other side, staring blankly at the familiar stranger brushing his hand against Joey's soft curls. Eyes widened in surprise at the presence of his father, someone who he hadn't seen for months at a time. Even when he was around, not much attention was paid to the blond instead the focus was on his brilliant brother. The cold, hard truth was that compared to his older brother, Joey was feeble and timid.

In all honesty, this was the first time he could ever recall seeing his father clearly in a well lit room. Age was shining through his features especially his slightly silver hair alongside wrinkles forming on the edges of his eyes.

Joey couldn't help but stare at his so-called father figure, it wasn't just in awe for the basic fact he cared enough to come but also because he was happy. A small smile came to his face accompanied by his cheeks flushing when his father's silver eyes caught him staring, forcing Joey to return his gaze to the wooden floor below him. Even though he may have been happy to see his father, he couldn't ignore the tension radiating from both of his parents. Only a month ago his father had appeared on a visit. Visits began to be shorter and shorter. In the middle of the night young Joey would creep to the bottom of the stairs where he would open the door only a crack to hear his parents bickering. A couple of minutes would pass before his father's eyes would stare directly at the door, letting out a sigh then telling Joey to get a quick drink and go back to bed.

How his older brother, Grant, died remained a mystery to him before he gained his special abilities. The earliest memories he ever had of his brother were Christmas time when he would come home from military school. The door to his room was always closed and the blond boy was never allowed to set foot in there. His mother would always let out a dreamy sigh staring at the cold, wooden door before saying he was just like his father. At the time, it didn't seem like a bad thing. Everyone young boy's hero is his father and Joey was always seeking new ways to gain his attention. Except everything he could do, Grant could do better.

"Mother," he looked up at his sullen mother slowly bringing her distracted gaze down to his level. "When am I going to see big brother again?"

Lines of people were still shuffling by the broken family, hugging, kissing, crying, and truthfully he didn't know who any of them were. The thought of death was something he still hadn't grasped like he would be able to see his anti-social older brother at Christmas but that was all a false wish since he knew damn well in the back of his mind that nothing could bring him back.

What appeared to be tears were forming on the rims of her eyes before they narrowed harshly glaring up at his father. "Hopefully not for a very long time, Joey."

"Oh," he breathed averting his eyes to his father's direction only for a brief moment. "Does this mean father's going to be staying with us?"

Only a forced smile came to his mother's face. Optimism was all Joey had to cling onto at this moment in time. A few months later he would have nothing to do with his father ever again and his mother's words about staying the way he was would make sense to his childish mind. Right now even at the most somber of occasions he was relishing in the moment that his family seemed somewhat whole.

As the funeral pressed on, one of his hands was held by his mother while the other was held by his father. Even with the passing of his brother everything seemed to be okay; that's what an innocent mind can create.

Of course living the life Jericho was meant innocence never lasted long.

A sigh escaped him. Nostalgia was causing him to stall the inevitable opening of the letter. Courage slowly built up inside of him as he delicately picked up the manila envelope, carefully lifting up the flap. What he expected was to find was a letter attempting to wheedle him over into becoming his older brother's replacement. That's exactly what happened after the funeral. Finally his father's attention was on him and he would gladly comply with any 'bonding' that his father offered him. Spring and soon summer days would be spent trying to build up Joey's strength and fighting abilities. Everytime he would trip and fall a look would come across his father's face; disappointment. What events would occur became like clockwork everytime he had messed up, his father would place his hands in his pockets, shake his head, then walk away letting out a sigh.

That sort of negativity would bring down people's spirits, but instead it only fueled the fire making Joey work harder and take more time until he could run up to his father, grab him by the sleeve, and show him he had done well. No matter how battered and bruised his body became, he would still go to bed at night with a sense of accomplishment and a large smile.

The thrumming of his small, bare feet hummed throughout the dark hallway of his family's home. A small string of light illuminated from the kitchen meaning the door was cracked and his parents were awake. Voices could be heard from above the staircase. His mother and father were talking. Everything seemed to be getting better since his father had decided to stay around for a while. The normal harsh words that echoed through the walls were replaced by the snores of his parents in their bedroom. Holding tightly onto the railing, he led himself down the stairs taking his usual spot hidden behind the door, peering through the crack.

"He's not Grant, Slade!" His mother's voice was raised as she slammed her hand on the table in protest.

Her raised voice didn't seem to deter his father; instead he leaned slightly back in his chair with a scowl burnt onto his face. "You don't think I understand that, Addie? Joseph shall never be anything like Grant. He is frail, weak, and too kind, but of course I should've expected that from him since you raised him in such a way."

Words cut deep and the blond fall backwards slowly inching away from the doorframe. Bonding had formed a completely different meaning in only a matter of seconds. So after all, he was only a replacement for his older brother in his father's eyes. Promptly the kitchen door swung open, silver eyes darted down to Joey's level. Without a thought, Joey pounded his feet while running up the stairs safely to his room. How could he be expected to look at his father after hearing such words? It would be the last time his father caught him listening at the door. It would be the last time his father came to visit, but not the last time he would see him.

How simple the contents of the letter were. In the end, he couldn't help but feel disappointed at what was scribbled carelessly on the white paper clutched in his hands. All it read was, "_I will make sure to keep in touch." _There wasn't even a name signed at the bottom. Was this supposed to be ominous or something? Was he even supposed to react to such a lowly letter? So much build up for nothing.

He crinkled the letter up only tossing it into the trashcan in the corner. That wasn't to make him afraid. Obviously his father still thought of Joey as the young, frail, blond child who would run around the neighborhood often tripping over his own two feet.

Rolling his eyes, he hopped off of one of the hospital beds wandering towards where the shower was located in the far left corner of the room. Normally he would've just gone down the hallway to the normal bathroom but the injuries he sustained from the ambush were beginning to throb with the foretelling of infection. After the shower came the hard part, figuring out a way to put disinfectant and then wrapping himself in the soft, comforting bandages. Secretly he was beginning to regret being so foolishly paranoid when Raven offered to aid him.

A towel was wrapped slightly around his waist. An endless wall of antibiotics, bandages, medicines, and pointy objects he had never even seen before stood in front of him. It was enough to make even the most intelligent people feel inadvertently stupid. Where to begin? How did teenagers even acquire all of these various objects?

The door behind him began tugging trying to be forced open. Before he took a shower, he decided it was best to lock the door so no one would walk in, but the person who was trying to enter didn't seem to grasp the locked door concept. Whoever it was stopped. Footsteps were heard walking away so Joey turned his attention back to the shelf cluttered with medicinal objects. In his mind he was concocting a strategy of sorts to systemically sort through all of the bottles, tubes, boxes, and vials before him until he found what he was searching for. The towel snuggly wrapped around his waist was creeping down his petite hips. No matter how many times he tugged it up and re-tied the wayward towel, it would not stay in place.

The window adjacent to where he was standing burst open releasing a strong gust of wind and many shards of glass into the room. Clusters of rocks flew in the air mixed with the broken glass. In the midst of all the commotion was a cluster of long, blond hair being held back by neatly place goggles. Standing there vacantly, the blue towel covering him fell to the floor. Would he ever get a moment of peace? Did everyone have to enter the Tower with the windows?

Running a gloved-hand through her long, flaxen hair Terra hoped off of the rock staring at her exposed teammate. Giggles filled the room as Jericho realized he was in the buff; quickly fastening the towel securely to his waist. His face would usually flush at moment of severe embarrassment, but he was sure his entire body was turning crimson.

"Ya know, we have a perfectly usable bathroom," her words were muffled through the gloved-hand now raised to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

Why were the women in this city so merciless? First, he's pretty sure he got sexually assaulted by Starfire, no matter how much he secretly enjoyed it. Second, Raven catches him just glancing in her direction and she thrusts him out of the car. Third, some crazy blond girl drags him into a café were she harasses him about his family and purrs. Then finally a geomancer with attitude isn't patient enough to wait until the infirmary is unlocked so she swoops into the room through the window which knocks his already insecure towel off in the process.

Jericho was not amused.

Like a statue, he was petrified to move while he watched Terra bound over next to him scanning the shelf before her. In only a matter of seconds her hand grabbed a white bottle then shook it in front of his face with a grin.

"B.B. ate too much funnel cake at the carnival," her shoulders move gracefully up in a shrug soon a shaking of her head followed. "Boys will be boys."

The only thought that ran through his mind at that moment was, _I want funnel cake, _but going to the carnival was probably a date for the two of them. Beast Boy obviously lusted after Terra, but she seemed to be the type who wouldn't needlessly fawn over people. Instead a relationship to her seemed natural like it didn't need any extra effort at all. The way she handle situations coolly only seemed to fuel Beast Boy's determination to gain her affection.

Finally the question Joey had been waiting for had come.

"Why are you in here alone, anyways?"

Without a thought, he turned around to reveal the deep gashes present on his back, but he made sure to keep his hands tightly secured on the towel. A warm, bare hand ran over wounds gently catching him completely off guard. Turning back around he seemed to catch the blue-eyed girl by surprise, one of her hands was new completely ungloved and suspended in mid-air. What sounded like a 'sorry' was grumbled from the girl's lips.

Awkward moments would usually derail an entire conversation or social encounter, before he knew it, Joey was sitting on the edge of an infirmary bed with Terra rubbing his heavily damaged back with anti-biotic ointment. Of course he changed out of that troublesome towel so there wouldn't be anymore exposure for that night. For someone who had a very rough outside, she sure did have a very delicate touch making sure there wasn't any recoiling from him everytime one of her fingers smoothed over the heavily damaged nerves. The expectation of flinching in slight pain and nibbling on his lip had vanished after getting used to the rhythm her fingers danced over the gashes.

There wasn't any talking even when she helped him smooth the bandages around his body leaving him to look like a mummy on his upper-body. The gashes from the claws luckily weren't deep enough to require stitches. A half hour had passed when they had finally finished cleaning him up. A question of how he ended up the way he did was what Joey was expecting but he soon figured that Raven may have filled everyone in on what had happened while they were absent. The sound of Terra's feet rubbing against the linoleum tiles caught his attention as he mouthed a simple 'thank you' to her.

All she did was grin now clutching the medicine for the almost forgotten Beast Boy before adding with a wink, "No worries. I totally know what it's like to be the new guy."

Was this a sign that he was being somewhat accepted? Only if it was by one teammate, it still meant it was a good sign.

The walk on the way back to his room seemed longer than usual. Maybe it was because he was being overly pensive paying way too much attention to the floor before him. The hallway seemed endless to the guest room, which he had claimed as his own until they gave him his own. He didn't care how long it took to get his own room, he could be patient. Right now he was running through potential scenarios in his mind about how the next few days would go. Based on his current situation he took life day-by-day especially now that he was residing in the same city as his father.

One of the doors read 'Raven' and he found himself stopped in front of that room. His mind played around with the idea of just  
knocking on to tell her that he was okay. There was a problem with that plan. Knowing her overly moody personality he imagined her only cocking an eyebrow with an indifferent look on her pale face before closing the door adding a 'so?' into the mix.

With that past him, he kept walking forward passing all the various rooms. Giggles and muffled voices could be heard around the doors labeled 'Robin' and 'Starfire'. Since they were both located next to each other, it was hard to decide which room it was coming from. He stuck his tongue out at whatever romantic whats-its they could be whispering to each other in awkward confidence. Since he was the romantic type he couldn't exactly imagine their leader being free with the romantic know-how. On the other side, Starfire was probably giving him a cavity with all the sweet nothings.

Finally his room arrived. It had been a long day and his clothes were trashed covered in blood, sweat, and tears. All he felt like doing was curling underneath the snug covers of his bed and falling into an uneasy slumber. The door was open. That's weird; he didn't recall leaving it that way. Still he was too tired to really care. Immediately his gaze fell to the window where his bed he had claimed was pushed up against. After the events of today involving windows, he was starting to believe he hadn't made a sharp decision.

A random blue-dress landed flatly on top of Joey's head leaving him befuddled.

It wasn't his blue dress.

Another article of clothing followed landing on his bed this time.

Curious he scanned the room landing on the open closet doors that were now spitting out girl's clothing at an alarming rate. If he could clear his throat, now would be the time. A pink head poked out of the closet door looking troubled and on the brink of spilling out many obscene words before catching the curious gaze of Joey.

For a moment he stood there just staring before the pink-haired girl stumbled out of the closet; her feet caught in a lavender sweater. Her response to the stumble was a huge smile alongside a nervous laugh. After untangling herself, he stood there watching her gracefully stroll right up in front of him. Her cerulean eyes only seemed to be magnified by her short, magenta hair and bright smile. Another frail body type was added to the house only accompanied by himself and Terra. The roof of his mouth began to go dry.

"I'm sorry for destroying the room." The chiming of her sweet voice sent shivers up his spine and made his stomach churn. "My name is Kole. Guess we'll be roommates for my stay. And you are?"

Oh no, she smiled again after saying that. What a deadly smile. Only after just meeting the girl she was already making his mouth dry and his stomach churn. If he could speak, he would be speechless. Also he was quite positive his mouth was hanging open in the instant bond he was feeling towards the small girl positioned in front of him. A girl never had this effect on his body. Now he was feeling extremely self conscious about only being seen in his boxers and bandages.

Slowly he held up the pad clutched in one of his hands to reveal pre-written the words, _"I'm mute." _

Another chortle escaped her making him feel like he was going to melt to the floor with embarrassment after he realized the foolish mistake he had made. That probably wasn't the answer she was expecting.

"Well, I can see that, but that would be an awfully funny name."

Frantically he flipped through the pages of his pad looking for the basic words and phrases he had pre-written to save paper. Finally he landed on the one he was looking for, _"I'm Jericho." _

"Ah, well see that's more like it."

Another silence fell over them. It was one of the only silences that ever felt awkward for Joey and he was very used to them. The pink-haired girl intrigued him somewhat, he watched her while pretending to have detached interested as she rested her minute hands on her hips to focus herself into looking around the cluttered room she created. A disapproving sigh escaped her but was replaced with an optimistic smile.

"What a mess I've create. I'm sorry I ruined your space. When it comes to being organized it's almost impossible for me. Unless I'm at home then I've got to be organized because I live with a caveman of all people."

Wow, this girl really talked far too much for someone of her size and predicted lung capacity.

"It's just… if you happen to see a pair of light pink and purple pajamas. Give a holler. Oh… sorry… I mean give a pat on the shoulder or a wave or something."

Normally he would've taken slight offense but when she rambled on endlessly it was mildly adorable adding onto her charm. It was making him even more curious while she returned to digging through the closet in search of the elusive pajamas. For a moment he stood there mesmerized in the situation, the new girl, and the fact they were sharing a room, but something caught his eye. Arbitrarily thrown on top of the lampshade was a pair of pink and purple pajamas. So the girl was scatterbrained.

A tap on the shoulder caught her attention as he handed her the pajamas trying as hard as he could to keep composure while doing so. Her hand fell to her chest in relief then she practically attacked him; pinning him to the floor in a hug of gratitude. In a heap they were lying there, Jericho was turning red while Kole was grinning happily from ear to ear. Her boots clicked against the floor as she walked over to the bed up against the wall near the door.

Girls were confusing.

Joey ran a hand through his fair, curls of hair watching her dance around the room while humming a tune to herself. The bed creaked under the small amount of pressure she added when she flopped down on it to kick her boots off. Her hands slid into her sleeves reappearing underneath her skirt as she began tugging it up to remove it. Wide-eyed Joey stood there wondering whether or not he was supposed to look away.

Now what was this crazy girl doing to him?

The humming stopped when he had his face buried in his hand feeling a full body blush coming on.

"Oops."

Oops? What did she mean 'oops'? Who says 'oops' after pretty much stripping with a member of the opposite sex in the room? Joey crossed his legs hoping his teenage body full of the appropriate hormones would not respond.

"You can look up now."

Green eyes slowly peeked over the edge of his hand to now see a fully clothed Kole pumping her feet over the side of the bed.

One hand was placed foolishly behind her hand, "I'm sorry. It's impulse since the caveman I live with is always around. Guess I'm used to have others in the room who would mind."

What a happy caveman she must live with.

The lights flicked off, leaving Joey sitting there in the dark while he could hear Kole rustling underneath the covers. Obviously the caveman must not have minded walking around in the dark either. He sighed wandering leisurely over to his bed and pulling the covers over his head. It had been a long day and he didn't know quite to make of it.

Was the inability to sleep alongside the mere sound of the girl across the room breathing making his stomach toss a sign of a crush?

A crush was something he had never experienced before. Most of his life had been spent in the confines of his home or on the mountain top. When he would run free around the neighborhood in the sunlight alongside the other kids it was a time when girls had cooties. After many family based incidents Joey had been occupied with taking care of his own mother instead of having a normal childhood or teenage life. There was no one else who could take care of his heartsick mother besides him, but even he had to leave the nest at one point. The life he had lived may have sparked him to mature at an early age, but he had never experienced what it was like to be attracted to another person.

Instead of sleeping he was lying there contemplating how inconvenient it could be to even have a crush. Did superheroes even have crushes? That was a stupid question to even ask since he knew the answer. Beast Boy liked Terra, Starfire and Robin are dating, sometimes he swore he could hear Cyborg flirting with Bumblebee over the videophone, and Raven was… Raven so yeah, he couldn't connect her with anyone. Dating among teammates in a dangerous lifestyle seemed like risky business.

Finally he blinked once in lethargy, and then blinked twice. On the third blink he had finally fallen into a deep slumber. In the room was the girl who talked too much and the boy who would always listen.

* * *

Meet Kole. She'll be around for only a little while, don't get too attatched. 

Time to answer the question that I keep being asked. Will Raven and Jericho be the central couple? Since the story isn't intended to be a romance, I can't really decide who he'll end up with. It's more focused on Joey struggling to be accepted then him ending up with someone, but since he did like Kole in the comics I had to bring her in for a while. I know he liked Raven, too, but we'll have to see.

Rose will be making an appearance in later chapters, for she is crazy. Hopefully my twisting of his past didn't turn too many people off. I'm fully aware that Grant died at the hands of the Titans and there isn't a huge age difference between him and Joey. It was too help the storyline.

Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, alerts, and sends cookies. -munches on cookie-


	4. Simple Question

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans or any of their characters.

**Chapter Four**: A Simple Question

Maybe there's some hidden meaning found in dreams… especially when there's a thick, crimson mist involved. Can anxiety and guilt really come through when a person's supposed to be peacefully dreaming? Curiously Joey waved his hand through the crimson mist only for it to disperse for a brief moment before returning. It was surrounding him completely leaving him shut-in and suffocating. The feeling of moisture seeped through the nerves in his palms and finger-tips. On his hands, the crimson substance coated his fair skin. All his senses already drew the conclusion of the crimson mist, but his mind was too baffled to confirm.

Wearily he pulled his hands to his nose. A metallic scent greeted him. For a moment he gritted his fingers feeling the liquid run over his hands. The same consistency and smell attacked his senses pulling him into terror; it was blood. Frantically he rubbed his hands over the sides of his pants. That had to get it off. Blood was something that came off easily, right? It's like spilling ketchup on your hands.

Unfortunately it wasn't as simple as spilling ketchup.

It was bonding with his cells, not rubbing off no matter how hard he tried. The feeling of terror was growing; the mist seemed to only suffocate him more. Joey blinked forcing himself to hold back the tears while he looked around trying to see through the thick, crimson mist. Every second he was standing there the more blood soaked and melded with his clothes, skin, hair, and face. The more he rubbed, the more it seemed to meld with his skin. That's when he decided to just take off and run.

Even by dream standards everything was bizarre and only getting worse. The mist seemed to clear before his eyes revealing a reservoir. Cradling the edge of the reservoir were the tips of his boots trying to keep his balance. Even the water, which one would normally expect to be blue, was bathed in blood. Still the mist cleared exposing a small shadow lying in the middle of the blood soaked water. Wincing slightly, he placed his palm over his eyes trying to create a clearer picture. Still a black outline was all he could see. Was it the shape of a person? Cautiously one foot moved in front of the other moving as vigilantly as possible. The left foot touched the bottom of the reservoir only to discover about an inch of the liquid it was stained with. Reassurance of a steady ground beneath him thrusted him confidently towards the dark body.

Curiosity and a hero's intuition fueled his frantic mind away from the gruesome scenery of his dreamscape. Arms pumping wildly his pace only got quicker until he was a few feet away from the petite body. A hard grip took hold of his collar shoving him backwards into the shallow liquid. The initial shock of someone physically tossing him to the ground with such ease and force left him gawking at the two pairs of dress shoes before him. Moments passed while his green eyes lingered on the dress shoes submerged in the blood-water but they were not stained. Even the black pants weren't tainted like his own clothes already feeling the hardening of the blood.

Somewhere in his mind he knew full well what people lurked above him. His head remained lowered trying to avoid the downfallen gazes. A sudden movement of one step caused his eyes to widen and him to recoil slightly. The same forceful hand extended to his collar grabbing with the same power and lifting him effortless into the air. One silver eye was impossible to ignore, it was unbearable to even imagine another silver eye concealed underneath an ebony eye patch. Joey's feet were no longer safely nestled to the ground instead he was held by his collar face-to-face with his father. Behind his father stood a familiar but long-forgotten face looking as sullen as his father standing before him. For a brief instant, he locked his eyes with the russet-eyes of his older brother then Grant moved slightly to the side revealing a heavy-set gash across his abdomen scarlet with the movement of blood. Mystery had always surrounded the death of his older brother when Joey was a child. One night concealed behind a cracked doorway exposed a tale of a fight involving a fatal stab.

A new figure had materialized this time with a tuft of curly blond hair and wearing the same small tuxedo worn to his older brother's funeral so many years ago. The young specter of Joey's childhood moved forward from the rear of the disclosed body with hands hidden behind his back. The specter stopped in front of him slowly reaching out his hands with innocent green-eyes to divulge them blood-soaked.

The iron-cast grip of his father on his collar released.

Maybe he would've have jump in reaction to the dreamscape fall he had experienced. Too bad there was some heavy obstruction making it impossible for his full body to respond. Even though his mind was wide-awake, his eyes still remained closed scrunching together in hopes of avoiding both reality and fantasy, limbo and the darkness of his shut eyelids seemed more appealing.

The obstruction shifted its weight from the right to the left slowly and effortlessly. Meekly he opened one of his green eyes to see a tuft of strawberry hair that was only made known to him the night before. Two little antenna-like spurts of hair began to bend from the left to the right in direct synchrony with the head attatched. Blue eyes stared blankly at him waiting eagerly for what he was going to do.

With both eyes open, Joey just stared back in wonder of the scene before him. That's when his eyes drifted back and forth up his body covered in pale, blue blankets. A girl with strawberry painted tresses was pretty much straddling him on his bed. To make matters more awkward, she was fully dressed wearing a pleated-indigo skirt. Somehow this girl was sexually suggestive without shame or probably even realizing it. This was probably one of those 'I-live-with-a-caveman-so…' moments.

Quickly he shut his eyes, biting his bottom lip, must keep hormones in… check. Ugh, easier said then done when every pore in your body seems to be screaming. When your body begins to ignore your mind's commands that's when you take action.

Instantaneously he sat up almost head-butting Kole in the process. Luckily she scrambled quickly to the edge of the bed, biting the tip of her fingernail. Joey pulled his knees to his chest staring blankly at the girl sitting on the edge of his bed.

"For someone's who is mute, you sure make a lot of noise when you're sleeping," Kole quickly blurted out.

Wait… what?

Her stare fell to the pale, blue comforter watching her hands fidget with the edges and free strings. "I mean, you toss and turn a lot. You also make tons of funny facial expressions like this one time, your mouth was totally open in a screaming way but you know there wasn't any noise coming out. It was like something out of a silent movie. I wished there were subtitles."

Mouth partially open in amazement to how fast this girl could spit out the most irrelevant facts, Jericho rubbed his forehead. There wasn't an apology or much of an explanation for her odd behavior just a bunch of babble about his sleeping habits. This caveman-babysitter was a complete mystery to him and truthfully, did enough talking for the both of them. His mind attempted to drift back to the dream, but then Kole spoke again.

"Seems like today's going to be a slow down in the crime-fighting biz, huh?" The tone she was speaking in was nonchalant as her eyes darted everywhere minus his direction.

All he did was shrug throwing the pale, blue covers off of him.

A small sigh escaped her, "I mean… Robin and Starfire have already gone out to some roller-rink or whatever. Cyborg's visiting the Titan's East. Terra dragged Beast Boy somewhere. No one's around."

With another small shrug, Joey started sorting through his duffel bag in search of clothes for today. Currently his mind was on finding clean clothes, doing laundry, and hopefully taking a shower. The talkative girl popped up next to him, leaning against the nightstand.

"It would be nice to get out of the Tower, take a tour of the city. If only I knew a_ boy_ with _nothing_ to do who could show a _new girl_ around."

Did she have something in her eyes? Maybe it was dust because she sure was blinking a lot. Finally he made his way towards the door only to hear an aggravated huff from the corner of the room. Blinking for a quick second, his eyes opened to Kole blocking the door with a huge, grin and her hands held out in front of her.

"Jericho, you seem like the type of person with loads of free time." Oh boy, that didn't sound like a complete and total insult. "Maybe after you hose off, you can show me around?"

Kole's features softened into a sheepish grin and large, pleading eyes. For a moment he stared blankly finally registered what had happened. If she wanted him to show her around the city… then why didn't she just ask in the first place? Mechanically his head nodded in agreement at last with a small smile forming.

The frail girl standing before him beamed then scampering off into the corner to dig through her luggage once again. Another flurry of miscellaneous clothes fluttered into the air landing on various pieces of furniture. Joey couldn't help but smile to himself.

Smiling to him lasted until he was halfway down the hallway on his approach to the bathroom. Panic was settling in the pit of his stomach and making its way up to the emotional part of his brain. Is this a date? Oh man, he was going on a date. Oh man, it was his first date. Oh man, that's truly pathetic.

'Bathroom' was the word staring back at him as he paced back and forth. At that point, he had completely forgotten about his hygiene. Instead he was sparring in his mind about the supposed do's and don'ts of dating. Living on a mountain for many years didn't prepare one for a social life let alone a romantic encounter of any kind. Can a mute even go on a date without there being any awkward silences?

Unaware to the bathroom door being opened, he paced back and forth one more time before the odd sensation of staring eyes pierced through his skin. Turning around his green eyes made direct contact with the mauve-eyes of the pale-skinned witch who casually tossed him out of a car earlier then coughed blood up on his face. Her eyes narrowed slightly and the feeling of someone prying through his thoughts surfaced. A brick wall formed in his mind, he flashed a satisfied smile. There was no way he was going to let someone such as Raven dig through his thoughts and ruin his good mood.

An annoyed appearance registered on her pale face before she turned around to take her leave, "Enjoy your shower."

That was an oddly, chipper answer coming from such a condescending individual. Oh well, he was going to let anything ruin the high he was currently experiencing.

Bloody and antibiotic-soaked bandages leered at him once his shirt was removed. There was no Terra to swoop in and help him bandage up this time. Well, at least he hoped she wouldn't have made the same, flashy and sudden entrance she made last time. According to Kole, she was out with Beast Boy anyways. Somehow he found it weird that they could enjoy the normal teenage life even with the duties that came with their personas. It left Jericho feeling envious, he felt cheated out of a normal teenage experience. Even if he was getting his first-experiences late and even under odd-circumstances, such as his first kiss, he was overjoyed to finally be experiencing them. For once his mind wasn't fixated on his past, his father, his name.

Hot water ceased to pour from the showerhead above him. Smelling good seemed to be something that was on the top of his priority list today. There were so many different shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and body washes to choose from. Obviously the fruity smells were more feminine while the more musky smells belonged to the males of the group. Smelling like a mango infused papaya wasn't the scent he was going for.

Stepping out of the shower, his eyes darted around the room searching for a towel. The towel racks were empty. His sopping-wet hair dripped on the shiny, tiled floor below him. His arms wrapped around his chest fighting off the shiver he was going to be experience any moment. Jolting around the bathroom, he scoured each cabinet, drawer, and trash can. Finally he stood in the middle of the bathroom leaving puddles beneath his bare feet.

_Raven. _The realization hit him. No wonder she wished him a happy shower, the witch had stolen all of the towels leaving him high and… well… wet. Now he was stuck with toilet paper or the possibility of streaking down the hallway until he got to the safety of his room. There was also the option of just putting on his clothes while he was damp. That wouldn't work since he didn't have enough clothes as it was. Maybe streaking was the only option. Oh man, he couldn't do that. That was something that Kole would probably do.

Dampened toilet paper poured out of the waste-paper basket shoved into the far corner of the bathroom. Twenty minutes had passed since he had taken his initial shower. Kole would be comment on her usually being taken for the high maintenance one and he was cramping her style. Well there he was in his usual clothes with his curly, blond hair jutting out in many directions. This was what high maintenance was supposed to resemble?

On the way back to the room, he drafted up ways to blame Raven for what had occurred. Evidence wasn't present so the strawberry-tinted chatterbox would probably just lecture him.

Was his stomach supposed to feel like someone had just hit it with a lead pipe?

Nevermind. Leaning against the door to the guest room was Kole. One of her legs was upward pressing against the cold, metal door. Both of her arms were crossed in front of her chest and her head was low. Tufts of magenta hair were clouding her visage not allowing him to see her expression. The sounds of his footsteps grabbed her attention. Thank goodness, he was glad that he wouldn't have to get her attention himself. Instead she stared blankly at him for a moment before separating herself from the door with a huge grin. A small smile was what he returned to her.

The streets were dizzying. People crowded the sidewalks even forcing people to walk against the traffic alongside the roadways. Taxis and buses sped by allowing jay-walkers to sprint across the street. When one person couldn't handle the hustle and bustle alongside the unspoken rules of city-life, they were exiled to the damp sides of the street to walk where the sidewalks met the road. Usually these areas were clouded with puddles that are deeper then they appear hidden potholes, gutters, and the occasional wad of gum or article of food. Pushing and shoving was fair-game. Sometimes hair was pulled or a punch was thrown. While the worst action someone could ever commit, even accidentally, was stepping on the back of someone else's shoes. This act would once again end with exile to forever walk alongside the road facing crazy taxi drivers who purposefully drive through puddles to splash the people. A city-dweller was something Joey was not. These unspoken rules were a mystery to him so he found himself exiled on his first romp through the streets of Jump City.

Many mistakes were made and the cut-throat city-folk could smell his fear together with the mountain air still fresh on his clothes. One mistake, he stopped in the middle of the walking traffic. The result was him being pushed to the ground and landing in a freshly dropped cheeseburger that stained the back of his outfit. Yellow and red complimented the purple for the rest of the afternoon. Whilst dwelling on the grimy sidewalk still in utter shock that someone had pushed him over, a ninety-year old woman stepped on his hand while wearing red, high-heels. Now with a fresh bruise on his left hand, he dusted himself off optimistic for another go. Little did he know that cities weren't famous for second chances.

Another mistake, stumbling into an alleyway to get away from the chaos on cemet-laid pathways, people always do warn others to look before they leap. Apparently Joey hadn't grasped that philosophy yet. Living on a mountain for most of his adolescent existence made him naïve to the world around him. In childhood he lived in the suburbs, so he couldn't say he had been to the big metropolis too often. A putred smell invaded his nostrils. Open trash cans cluttered the alleyway with rats scurrying back and forth from rusty can to rusty can. Clickings of high heels pulsed through his eardrums. A long finger grazed his chin, his head kept to the grubby pavement below. Small leather skirts weren't something that belonged to any normal person. Slowly his eyes wandered up the adrongynous figure only to cause more confusion when a make-up stained face looked back at him with a coy smile. Their lime-green bra was showing through a white camisole. Oh man, he hadn't encountered an actual lady of the night before and the fact it was daytime made it more confusing. Also Joey couldn't figure out if the person standing before him was a man or woman.

Sprinting out of that alleyway was his first impulse. This time he swiftly weaved in and out of the crowds; only to run into more trouble.

This time seemed different. The circumstances were the same, but he was one experience wiser. Actually what really seemed to make the difference was a certain blue-eyed, cave-dwelling girl. Control and confidence radiated off of her skin while she strutted down the streets beside him. If someone bumped into her, she would bump back even harder. No mercy was shown for the once cruel Jump City dwellers. Exiled didn't describe Joey. Nope, this time he was walking alongside the regulars all thanks to Kole. It was extremely hard to believe that she hadn't been in cities too often. Joey thought he was the tour guide, but she seemed to be leading the way with ease.

Rounding the corner, Jericho could no longer be oblivious to the awkward air. Even if he had only just met Kole he still had expected her to be considerably chattier. Yet she strolled beside him with a small smile and big eyes taking in all the sites around them. The self-conscious feelings between the two of them quickly dissipated. Trouble was looming in front of a café with eyes searching every person that passed by.

Trouble was wearing the upbeat color of pink.

Some part of Joey wanted to halt in place, turn around, pick up Kole, and head back to the Tower. Only yesterday the blond-haired, slender nuisance leaning against the glass of the café in their path had bullied him into submission. There the girl stood, her mind filled to the brim with every secret he was trying to keep locked and next to him walked a girl, who he wanted more than anything to keep the secrets from… at least for now. A deep breath calmed him down. How he could be positive that the girl was even looking for him? There was only a one in a million chance she could even pick him out in the moving pack of people.

One in a million was Joey today.

The false sense of security he had fallen into vanished with a rough hand grabbing him by the back of his shirt. Stumbling suddenly his boots scuffed against the pavement whilst he tried to maintain his balance. One of his hands reached for Kole only brushing against the one of the pleats of her indigo skirt. Somehow that was enough to catch her attention.

"Jericho?" the girl twirled around on the balls of her feet, her large-blue eyes immediately falling onto the blond-girl clutching him by his back collar.

A small giggle sounded from behind him, a foreign cheek brushed up against him own sending unwanted shivers through his body, "Jericho? Is that the dinky superhero alias you go by? Now, Joey we need to have a small chat."

Biting his lip, he looked around the streets before finally looking directly towards Kole. Her attention wasn't even directed towards him, it was still looming over the pink-adorned girl. With a simple shrug, her grip broke. Didn't he tell himself that he wouldn't let anything ruin this day?

"Humph."

An annoyed noise echoed from the throat of the unknown girl. The fact that she had known his name but never introduced herself was unnerving to him now. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her crossing her arms across her chest with her petite, stuck-up nose pointed in the air. Both of her thinly plucked eyebrows were raised towards Kole, who was now clenching her fists with a displeased expression and the same disapproving gaze.

Joey stood in the middle of the two girls with both hands limply at his sides smiling a nervous grin. Experience was something he still hadn't had with women, the way they were looking at each other was toxic.

Finally someone had to give. One of Kole's small hands locked onto the sleeve of his shirt and began tugging him in a different direction. There were no words exchanged between them instead she kept the same sour expression while attempting to flee the scene. Some part of him expected the blond-girl to grab him but instead she brushed on of her hands across his belt, slipping a slip of paper into his belt coyly. Following behind Kole obediently, his eyes didn't avert back towards the girl, he gazed forlornly at the two, magenta antenna-like locks of her now bouncing on top of her head. The sound of her boots stomping against the cracked sidewalks gave him the impression he shouldn't speak… if he could.

He mentally kicked himself for having ruined his first date even before they got to the dating part. It was like a curse… him and women never seemed to work out perfectly. Every woman he would come into contact with was either violent, cranky, easily annoyed, or a strange combination of all three. All he could do was let a sigh of exasperation escape when she had finally stopped and let go of his sleeve in the park.

In the horizon, the sun was starting to make its descendent into nighttime. An orange color casts its glow over the park as the transition between daytime and nighttime occurred. Small children began to say their good-byes and wandered off hand-in-hand with their families to retreat to their safe, warm homes for the night. A reminder of the dream reverberated through his mind when a father clutched his frail, blond son in his arms with the child's head resting happily on his shoulder. A lump formed in his throat trying to push the memories of his father and the events of the fresh nightmare into the back of his mind. It wasn't time for nostalgia and pensive moments when he was trying to figure out his adolescent urges while standing next to a petite girl.

Silence was still between them and it was still awkward for him even though she seemed completely at ease when she fell backwards onto the bench. Her legs pumped back and forth in the air, her boots going back and forth in different directions not even scraping the grass underneath. Tentatively he took a seat next to her after she patted the spot on the wooden bench next to her. A streetlight flickered on above them making the transition between night and day smoother.

"You know… you could've at least told me you had a girlfriend before I made a complete fool of myself. Maybe it's because you can't speak or whatever, but I got the vide you weren't that type of guy. Guess… I was wrong, huh?"

Joey choked on her words looking wide-eyed down at her a little stunned. Girlfriend? That random, violent, overly pink-indulgent princess? For some reason he cracked a smile at how absurd that accusation was. Even though he wasn't experienced with much of the fairer-sex he still had at least some expectations of who he wanted to date. All of them didn't describe whoever that random girl was.

The infamous notepad made its way out of his pocket; he began scribbling down his response to her statement. It was difficult to think of ways to respond and convey them on a pink-tinted notepad that Starfire had given him after Silkie ate his initial pad. Finally the words seemed to flow through his mind and his hand effortlessly scribbled down the words in his rough hand-writing. The notepad was concealed from Kole's eyes but that didn't stop her from trying to sneak a peak while trying to still look completely dispassionate in whatever he was doing.

One hand held the notepad up in her line of vision making sure to conceal his already blushing face. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her eyebrow cocking at the words he had jotted down. Panicking he recoiled the notepad and begin crossing out everything that seemed embarrassing… which was pretty much the entire shred of paper. Something brushed up against his shoulder. Little tendrils of pink hair clouded his peripheral vision.

"Maybe I could get used to spending my time with someone who isn't a Neanderthal. Jericho, I believe that in most ways you fit that description."

Currently, Joey felt his face become more flushed by the second. Instead he decided to keep the silence and allow her to chatter on and on while he would occasionally smile and nod with her stories or interests. His hands fumbled when he ripped the piece of paper he had written on out of his notepad alongside the small shred of paper the blond girl had given him. One of his eyes drifted over the word written on the shred before he calmly chucked both shreds into a nearby trashcan.

Finally the stars emerged; the entire park had changed its appearance. Underneath the hum of the streetlight sat Kole and Jericho. Their shadow in the grass showed a girl eagerly pumping her legs while ranting on while the boy attentively listened.

In a nearby trashcan sat two crumpled up pieces of paper, both unfolded and completely open to the world. The larger one read, _"If that girl was my girlfriend. I wouldn't have agreed to spend time with a girl that gave my stomach knots." _Covering the corner of the larger note was the smaller one, _"Kitten."_

* * *

Long time, no see, eh?

Sorry for the three to four month absence time. First 'Blame it on Bad Luck' had to be updated then you would think with cross country season ending I would have more time... that didn't happen. Instead, I'm working on college applications. :D!

This chapter took a little while to write because my absence time gave me instense blockage. This actually isn't meant to be a romance, but will have romantic undertones throughout it.

R&R is adored. Alongside food items. Thanks for the cheese, cookies, and muffins.:3 Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, compliments, and alerts. Enjoy.


	5. Belonging

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans or any of their characters.

**Chapter Five**: A Sense of Belonging

Why couldn't morning come sooner? Sleep wasn't a subject directly connected with Joey's thoughts at the current moment. Knots filled his stomach, but they were the good kind of knots. The kinds that made him bounce up and down while sitting in an upright position. That may sound completely ridiculous, but he felt completely ridiculous. Every emotion surged through his body taking his mind off of every topic that had caused him woe for the fleeting weeks.

Kole, a small girl from the frosty areas high in the north slumbered across the room from him. Little tufts of strawberry hair sprouted from beneath the blankets, cluttering her pale yellow pillowcase. Everytime she breathed in slowly, her nose would crinkle before she exhaled. Even her mouth wide open with a small amount of drool leaking onto the pillowcase seemed oddly adorable.

Curiously his eyes fell upon a mahogany guitar case nestled in the corner. It wasn't visible, but he knew it was there. A pile of his clothes decorated the case making it look more like a coat-rack then a musical instrument. Music provided him with an outlet, like it did many people. A sweet voice that belonged to his mother forever rang in his mind saying that he had an uncanny gift for making instruments sing.

Around the age of five, Joey paraded around his brother's heels. Whatever puddle that Grant would run through, he stomped through. Whatever fence Grant effortlessly hurtled over, he crawled underneath. Keeping up with his brother was easier said then done. Inherited genes gave Grant everything that seemed to matter. Agility, strength, and all the traits that a boy should have especially when they're his father's son, for these reasons Grant always became the favored. Leaving Joey to struggle within his shadow but in the back of his mind he believed that if he nipped at his brother's heals then his father would come to notice him.

Eagerly he waited at the window peering out at the empty driveway waiting for his father to come home. Once the car rolled into the drive, both boys made a dash for the door; the smaller one always came in last place only to jump up and down for this father's attention. Dinnertime within the Wilson household was very much the same case. Grant prattled on endlessly about his latest accomplishments in whatever recreational activity he was excelling in that week. During this time, Joey rolled the peas on his plate back and forth while peering at his father's approving head nods through his peripheral vision. So his brother was a huge athlete that every sports team wanted to recruit. It's not like Joey did not try when it came to athletics.

Throughout his childhood, he played many of the sports offered to children. Baseball was the first disaster where he ended up hitting his coach in the knee-cap on his first practice. While his coach was getting corrective knee surgery, Joey tried out for soccer. If people asked him whether or not he was any good at soccer, his response centered on him liking to think he was good. Every goal he scored was on his own team, but he was proud to at least get the ball into the net. The ball liked to get away from him as well and would generally careen out of bounds. Staying positive, he kept telling himself that at least no one was getting injured this time around.

One measly, little accident ended his attempts at impressing his father through athletics. On a breezy, summer day, a young Joey's eyes watched his brother and along with some older kids on the block throw around a football. As usual, he did not partake in playing the sport, instead he sat on the front steps of the wooden porch hoping that if he was present that he could soak up some of Grant's talent. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the profile of his father engrossed in the newspaper while his mother knitted something in the chair besides him. To the outside world, the Wilson family appeared picture perfect. Still, he felt like the huge black stain on his pure, white family.

An opportunity made itself known when the football flew carelessly into a nearby tree. The boys stared at the lodged ball, befuddled. Tree climbing was never Grant's forte. Yet it was something Joey became very fond of doing when he wanted to escape the reality of how he did not seem to fit in with his family. Every time a ball flew into the wrong goal or he got pegged with the ball again, up the tree he would go. Up in the branches of the trees, he would waste many hours either watching the clouds drift by or peer out for a moment to watch everyone around him. Everyone always seemed to be in such a rush while he would lollygag in the trees above him.

Grant's piercing blue eyes fell upon a curly, blond mess of hair perched on the hollow steps of the porch. Without a word uttered between the two siblings, the youngest hopped off of his stoop and seemed to glide easily over to the bottom of the tree. Here Joey was… to save the day. Even though his father's eyes seemed to be intently glued to the newspaper between his strong hands, he knew that he was covertly paying attention. Small knees bent provided the perfect launch for Joey's leap that catapulted him perfectly into arms reach of the lowest tree branch.

From that one bound, every movement was just a routine.

Hand reaches for shortest branch, aids in pulling himself up, and foot takes hold. Once he was in a stable position, he would repeat.

The coveted football was within arm's reach. While balancing on his toes, he leaned forward slowly as he fingers brushed against the fabric of the ball and grabbed a hold.

"Atta boy, Joey," Grant cheered from below him causing the five year old to beam with pride. Finally he had done something notable to get some attention.

A small swivel of his heel caused Joey's eyes to widen in shock. The football fell from his small hands as he plummeted towards the ground below. As much as the boy tried to grab onto passing tree branches on the way down, it was hopeless.

Staring out the large window facing the front yard of his home, sat a young, broken Joey. A green cast covered his now broken leg with condole scenes from his older brother scribbled all over it. At the same time everyone was playing outside, he was stuck in doors with his leg broken in two separate places. Tears started to form in the wells of his eyes at the thought of how much he must have disappointed his father. A burden and disgrace to his family… he could not do anything right. The memory of his father having to carry him into the hospital in his arms only brought more tears to his green hues.

The sound of footsteps snapped him out of the mental picture and quickly his hands began wiping away the tears.

"Joseph," the sweet sound of his mother's voice put him at ease, "I have a surprise for you."

When his mother brought him to the living room, a piano stood in the corner with a slightly worn out guitar stationed next to it. The boy's eyes widened in awe as his world became completely captivated by music. Countless hours were spent by Joey and his mother in the sun basked room where music was made. First his finger graced the fine keys of the piano before plucking the strings of the guitar for the first time. Sometimes while his mother played familiar melodies on the piano, he would sing along with her.

On spring night his mother turned to him with a sweet smile before saying, "You have a voice as sweet as an angel's, Joseph."

An overwhelming sense of pride filled his belly. Finally he had found his niche.

Something warm and constant strummed against his cheek. Since all he could see was darkness, he knew full well that he had eventually passed into a peaceful slumber. Slowly one of his eyes opened to see disheveled tresses of pink clouding his vision. The warm sensation he felt against his cheek was none other than Kole's breath. Almost instantly his cheeks flushed red before he caught a whiff of her morning breath. Obviously Kole just woke up and plopped herself on his bed. Here he was with a cute girl in his bed leaning over him and all he could think of was her morning breath. At least it was not as awkward as when she watched him yesterday morning during his nightmare. The silence of both of them just looking at each other would soon come to an end…

"You looked so serene in your sleep like one of the dead," Kole began musing while settling at the end of the bed.

Babbling: Kole's way of saying 'Good Morning'.

Jericho responded with a reassuring smile and sitting up in bed. The tint of Kole's cheeks turned pink at his smile causing him to blush even more. Why was she suddenly so silent? His gaze fell upon her, taking in everything about her. Currently she was wearing oversized pink pajamas with unicorns scattered all over them. The cuffs at the bottom were almost covering her very small feet all the way. Sleepies were still in the corners of her eyes and a little spec of drool lurked in the corner of her mouth. The magenta colored hair she possessed jutted out in every direction. Despite all these flaws, she seemed so comfortable, natural, and even beautiful.

All these feelings he had never experienced before until last night built up inside of his stomach. All the searching he did, all the traveling, and all of the adventure did not produce the same emotion and thrill he felt at that moment. His body began to take control with his mind swirling with such powerful emotional. Pushing the sheets back, he moved forward, placing his thumb on the corner of her mouth and gently brushing away the stain. The pink tint of her cheeks turned crimson; tentatively she leaned forward closing her eyes in the process. This was it… even if he could speak; words could not express the raw emotion he felt. One effortless motion away from…

The door crashed open.

"PARTY TONIGHT!"

The resident-blond-party-girl forced her entrance into the room with extreme gusto. Taken completely off guard, Kole pushed Joey back, and catapulted herself to the floor. Terra completely oblivious to the situation at hand shrugged off the odd behavior by keeping her enthusiastic smiling shining brightly at them.

Before he could even process what had just happened in the past few moments, Kole shot up from her previous heels over head position yelling, "Party!"

The two girls instantly locked hands and began jumping around chanting the word 'Party' in unison. Completely mortified, Joey sunk deeper into his bed sheets. This was humiliating. Why doesn't Terra knock? Jeeze, did someone raise her under a rock?

"Where? When? Why? Who? What are you wearing? Oh my gosh, how are you doing your hair? Is it going to rain tonight? Maybe we should plan according to the weather," the incessant and incoherent Kole babble began spewing out.

The moment had obviously passed. Joey felt utterly defeated by the girl talk now swirling around the room. Letting out an exasperated breath, he tossed the covers off of his body and made his way to the bathroom without the girls even noticing his exit. On his way to the bathroom, he passed the same doors as he did yesterday. There appeared to be so many rooms for only a small handful of people. Curiosity struck him when he noticed a door that was not open yesterday. Quickening his pace, he peered into the mysterious room before a black shadow engulfed the door slamming it shut.

Was abrupt door opening and closing a popular occurrence here?

Caught off guard, he jumped back and turned around only to face a fuming Raven glaring in his direction. Sheepishly he smiled as his big green eyes wandered to the door only to see the name 'Raven' engraved on it. Confrontation was not on his list of things to do today so he quickly signed 'Sorry' in hopes of not creating any more bad blood between the two of them.

"Never enter my room," she coldly stated with her mauve eyes staring intently at him.

His body moved on its own again. He nodded mechanically before he turned on his heel and quickly retreated to the bathroom. Safely in the bathroom, he let out a breath of relief. Why would she even leave her door open if she did not want people to see it? That girl has some serious problems. What had he ever done to her? All he did was save her life… doesn't that warrant a little bit of slack? Still since she could force herself into his mind at any moment, he was going to avoid her like the plague.

Looking at himself in the mirror, his gaze fell upon the bandages going around his chest and abdomen that covered his wounds from the battle with Chesire. The thought of Terra bandaging up his back made his cheeks flare up again. Vigorously he shook his head trying to get that thought out. All the girls in this Tower were completely weird and there he was in the middle of all of them.

Removing his bandages, he glanced at the deep gashes in his back. Parts of the wound started to heal, but it would not be a pleasant showering experience. Still he removed his boxers and let the hot water completely engulf him. This was the only time of relaxation he got and yet his mind wandered. It would only be a matter of time before they would figure out who his father was. Everything would be ruined. He would travel the world without a stable home once again. There was no way anyone in the Tower could ever allow him to stay knowing his father was their enemy. The thought of his father even being a villain pained him deeply. Sons are supposed to look up to their fathers and dream of being just like them. Life was different for Joey. Becoming like his father would be a nightmare. Life was about fighting to make sure he did not become like his father and follow in the path of his older brother. He faced life alone.

Shampoo dropped from one of his messy, blond curls into his eyes. Being blind and feeling the searing pain, he fumbled around the shower only to grab the closest object to him. Rubbing his face with the object he realized how squishy it was and not very dry. His green, blood-shot eyes shot open only to witness he tried drying his face with Silkie.

If he wasn't mute, he might have screamed.

Once dressed and determined, he marched his way down the hallway with Silkie under one arm to give Starfire a stern talk about her… pet.

Putting on his most stern facial expression, Jericho raised one hand to the door completely ready to give Starfire a piece of his mind. Before his action even occurred, the door flew open and an orange arm grabbed his wrist pulling him immediately into the room. Flung onto a bed with purple bed sheets in a completely pink room, he clutched onto Silkie for dear life while he tried to assess the situation rationally. Was she going to probe him for experiments like aliens in the movies? Was she going to feed him her weird alien food? Worse, was she going to kiss him again?

The image of an angry and vengeful Robin loomed in the back of his mind.

Quickly sitting up, he found himself completely surrounded by three girls. Kole, Starfire, and Terra stood over him grinning. Oh god, he was in a room with three girls and two of them were dating other team members. This was a bad situation. Wasn't there some sort of guy code for these situations? Maybe he should have made more guys friends in his life so he could have been well versed in such a code.

His grip on Silkie tightened as Starfire locked the door behind her.

A lump formed in his throat.

This situation was every boy's fantasy and there he was clutching a mutant worm for dear life.

Ugh. Stupid awkward adolescent years.

"Jericho," Starfire started to speak in her musical intonation, "We must have your opinion on the party outfit for tonight."

An odd sense of relief overcame him. Was that all? Well, it was somewhat flattering that they valued his opinion. His grip from Silkie ended.

"We feel you are the most honest and since you cannot speak verbally, I shall translate."

Jericho cocked an eyebrow at the last statement made by Starfire. Maybe she just wanted to show off her new sign language capabilities. Still he nodded and prepared himself to watch three of his female teammates parade around in outfits awaiting his approval. They probably wanted to surprise their boyfriends with looking extra special or something. Female logic was extremely confusing. Why would they even seek his opinion?

Terra sashayed out of the closet first wearing black boots hiked up above her thighs, a very short skirt, and a tube top. The outfit she wore reminded him of the women he saw standing on the street corners of major cities around the world. Sometimes they women came up to him, but he swiftly scurried away. Those women often smelled of cigarettes and sweat.

Standing there posing, Terra awaited his reply on whether or not her outfit was suitable. Starfire nodded to his signing before repeating what he said.

"Jericho says that you appear like one of women who stand on street corners."

"Starfire!" Terra growled clutching her fists.

"I am merely translating. I do not understand…. I stand on street corners every day."

An awkward silence fell over the room before Terra begrudgingly made her way back into the closet. Thanks to Starfire's naïve nature, Joey got off scot-free for saying such a statement. Of course, Star did say that he was the most honest out of all of them. Hours upon hours passed among the group of Titans. Laughs exchanged, pictures taken, and Jericho felt like he finally belonged. At the end of the modeling session, he laid sprawled out on Stafire's bed covered in piles of clothing owned by the three girls.

As quickly as they forced Joey into the room, they kicked him out. In the hallway, he blankly stared at the door as Starfire told him to go get ready and leave them to get even more prepared in peace. The door closed in front of him leaving the mute a little dumbfounded as he made his way back to his room.

A party? He had not been to a party since his childhood. Those parties involved balloons, cake, and clowns. His gut told him that this party would not be like his childhood ones. Was this what it felt like to be a normal teenager? Just hang out with friends without a care in the world? Even though they were superheroes, they still did not get robbed of the teenager experience. How he envied them and wished he had come to live with them sooner. How he wished things could stay like this forever, how the feeling of belonging could stay with him.

Everything he owned in the form of clothing was pretty much the same, so he did not have to worry much about his wardrobe. All he did was try to make his messy, blond curls a little more manageable. A small piece of paper stuck out of the pocket of the pants he wore yesterday caught his eye. Inquisitively he picked it up remembering how Kitten gave him the slip of paper with the message of his father searching for him. A lump formed in his throat.

"Ready to go," Kole inquired peering into the room from the hallway, "Everything okay?"

Joey quickly shook his head before dropping the piece of paper after catching a glimpse of Kole. A knee-length blue dress hugged the curves of her body. Her pink hair, normally straight, fell in curls framing her face. How quickly the worries of the world escaped his mind when he saw her.

With a huge grin, the pink haired girl placed her hand in his, leading him out of the room.

* * *

Hi everyone! I believe it has been over a year since I wrote the last chapter. Life has been crazy and a lot has changed. I actually had the beginning of this chapter on my computer for a long time before finishing it. There's a lot going on with our lovely, little Joey and a lot is going to happen. This chapter is mainly a good transition into the next one.

Thanks to everyone who was so patient with this story and still supporting me. Reviews and everything are always appreciated. :3


	6. Security

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans or any of their characters.

**WARNING: **This chapter contains slight alcohol use and graphic imagery.

**Chapter Six: **Security

The salt water seeped deep into his back wound. Grinding his teeth in agony, Joey opened his bloodshot eyes only to feel soaked to the bone. The cream colored morning sky provided some relief while the tide drifting in and out rhythmically rocked him slightly like a lullaby. A dream? Had everything been a complex dream? Only a complex image composed within a night of slumber. The taste of blood reminiscent in his mouth begged to differ. A memory from only a few hours ago flashed. Tears formed on the rims of his eyes.

_I cannot change what runs through my blood,_ he thought closing his eyes.

The lights and bodies pulsated to the same rhythmic beat convulsing from the speakers. All the bodies huddled together into one coercive unit emanating an almost unbearable heat. Beer cans cover every lit crevice while couples occupied the dark corners. The perfect venue for Joey's first party, but he neglected to tell his friends such embarrassing information. It did not seem to matter to them anyways. It only took mere moments after entering the abandoned warehouse for the group to scatter into different directions.

"Come on, Green Man. Let's groove," Terra purred. In a flash of blond hair, she whisked Beast Boy into the group scattered among the dance floor.

Immediately Beast Boy showed his flair, perfecting the robot with mechanical precision and drawing in an audience. Ending with the perfect pop-and-lock, he earned not only applause from the crowd but an innocent kiss from Terra. A goofy smiled crossed his lips as he pulled her closer to him for the remainder of the song.

"Robin! May we partake in the booth of photo?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jericho saw Starfire dragging a reluctant Robin to the instant photobooth before he could even form the first part of his response. However, that did not seem to matter once they entered into the booth. By the sound of her giggles, he warmed up to the idea of taking a slide of photos together. A thought crossed his mind, what if Kole wanted to go into the photobooth?

Before he could even panic over the thought of that situation, a robotic hand presented him with a red cup. Yellow foam bubbled at the top contrasted the red cup's white edge. An unpleasant smell entered his nose. Kole, on the other hand, eagerly accepted her cup and sipped it delicately. The foam left a yellow moustache on the top of her painted pink lips. Hesitantly, he took the cup and smiled at Cyborg.

"Drink up, man," Cyborg bellowed.

Kole's eyes floated up to Jericho in anticipation of his first sip. The others handled it with such gusto and elegance. They drank beer like it was water to them. What if the newspapers got wind of such behavior? Teenager superheroes going to parties and drinking beer, it would sound so much less absurd if one negated the word "superhero". Isn't this what he wanted all along? The chance to hang out like a regular teenager with no superpowers and no worries about his father, and perhaps for an evening he could truly connect with someone else.

Cyborg guzzled his first red cup of the liquid before returning his attention back to Joey. With no fear, he pressed the cup to his lips and let the beer trickle down his throat. A somewhat bitter taste resonated on his taste buds and a comforting warm feeling invaded his stomach. The first sip automatically calmed him. Everything felt like it could possibility be all right. Kole beamed before licking the foam off of the top of her lips while Cyborg patted him on the back before bee lining for the beer pong table. The others at the table accepted his arrival with a warm cheer and competed amongst each other for whose team he would play on. This entire situation seemed surreal to Jericho. If he did not know better, he would assume his teammates and friends to be just normal. They blended in among the crowd almost seamlessly. Without their costumes and dolled up for a night on the town, they fit the part perfectly and everyone treated them as they would their classroom peers.

A delicate arm interlocked with his own, pulling him towards a secluded area of the warehouse. When his face blushed beat red, Kole just giggled. His hand reached into his pocket for his notepad and pen, but her hand immediately stopped his own. That was odd. Why did she stop his hand? She knows full well she cannot speak to her without the pad. Even if he had the ability to speak, the music drowned out any sound of speaking possible. If words did not matter tonight, he was golden. A sense of relief fell over him when she passed the dance floor. His older brother got all the charm and suave dance moves. Joey created a theory in his mind that has some sort of athletic capability directly correlated to dancing. Anyways, he could not imagine his awkward body "grinding" up against Kole's petite figure. His cheeks flushed beat red at the mere thought.

_I don't know if I am experienced enough for this_, he thought. _Aren't there training parties or something? Kole seems so comfortable and I seem like an awkward bean pole with a tuft of frizzy blond hair. No, no. I must ooze confidence. They don't know you here. Fresh start. I can do this._

With a newfound courage, he changed the course of Kole's direction towards the dance floor. Impressing Kole became his new goal and he would achieve it. Her cotton-candy hair bounced with her step she followed and her elfin nose crinkled at the sudden change of course. Pushing through the throng of dancers, he halted in the same proximity of Beast Boy and Terra.

For a moment, Joey kept his eyes on Terra and Beast Boy who bopped together in unison. Like a pendulum, Terra's hips swayed back and forth in beat with the music as Beast Boy's hands lazily ran up her exposed mid-drift. A sultry smile crossed her almost fox-like lips and a blush crossed Jericho's cheeks. His characteristic blush erased any hopes of courage.

Of course they were in their older teens and sexuality was meant to be explored, but he suddenly felt light-years behind his teammates. His eyes continued to linger on Beast Boy on Terra before he noticed the evident stare coming his way from Kole. For a moment she glanced between him and their teammates before giving him a reassuring nod. Her fingers interlaced with his once more before leading him through the throng of people. Making way for the stairway, he peered around his surroundings wondering where Raven could have possibly disappeared off to. When all of them piled into the car, she paused begrudgingly for a moment and actually had to be coaxed in. While everyone chattered away on their excitement for the party, she glared out of the window with her arms protectively crossed. As soon as they appeared in front of the warehouse, she entered the shadows without stating a word.

The sound of the beating water from the reservoir near the warehouse drowned out the music below Kole and Jericho.

"You know," Kole's already soft voice was barely audible without the competing music and beating of the reservoir. "Every time I visit the Titans for a briefing or whatever, I feel like an outsider. They are such a tight-knit team and I have to leave Gnnark to keep an eye on the north…"

The ocean breeze blew her cotton candy hair in front of her blue eyes, as she stepped forward with every word. With a sheepish look, she pressed herself up against him with the remaining words lingering on her lips. A knot formed in his stomach, his mouth went dry. If he could speak, he would probably be at a loss for words.

"I think… you may be…" The words latched onto the tip of her tongue as her face inched closer to his. His hands obediently wrapped around her waist before cutting off her inevitable phrase with a long kiss.

Even though he did not allow her to finish her statement, he had a feeling what it was going to involve. He panicked. How could she say such powerful words so quickly. Maybe it was the type of lifestyle they all lived. In their world, they did not know if their current fight would be their last. Terra provided the perfect point. She had 'died' once before, but somehow came back for reasons he did not know. The Titans did not like to discuss that topic and he did not feel the need to push it. Everyone had their secrets; he knew that all too well. For those reasons, he could not let Kole rush such emotions quickly. This girl lived sheltered in the north with a caveman, and he hoped she would return there unscathed by his secrets.

In the blink of an eye, Kole was pushed from his arms and careening the edge of the building. That same moment, the stunned girl immediately entered her defensive mode, turning to a hard, clear block frozen in time. The force pushed Jericho onto the hard concrete surface before skidding to a stop.

A flash of black hair reappeared before his eyes with blades emerging from the sleeves of a green, silk kimono. A smiling cat face looked down in his direction before turning back to Kole. Wasn't this the same girl who attacked the tower earlier this week?

In a quick flash, she disappeared from his vision appearing in front of newly human Kole. The speed caught Kole completely off guard. Before she could retreat back to her diamond shell, the left set of blades slashed across her body. A pool of blood formed underneath the tiny Titan as she collapsed to the ground, letting out a slight shriek.

_Kole! _Her name pounded in his mind as he jumped to his feet. A memory of his mother flashed before his eyes. This was not a flight instinct, he had to protect Kole and not fail her like his mother. He raised his arm in an attack position with muscles flexed. The cat-faced girl disappeared before his eyes and materialized a few moments later, knocking him to the ground with a swift kick. All wind escaped from his lungs. The concrete felt cold and brutal as his face smashed against it. Why were her claws retracted when she fought against him yet she was armed to kill someone like Kole?

Kole sputtered, making brief eye contact with Joey. Her blue eyes narrowed in frustration, but he could have sworn he caught a glimpse of fear. A trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. _Please turn back. Defend yourself, please,_ he thought in hopes she could someone understand. With a weak smile, she nodded before transforming into a hard diamond case.

The hard diamond case did not dissuade the kimono-clad girl from chipping off the outer casing of Kole's shell bit by bit. Little diamond shards rained down and glimmered in the moonlight. Bit by bit, Kole's defenses chipped away in a beautiful hale. Joey shot up, speeding towards her again. The arena was not in his favor. The bare rooftop did not provide any useable weapon. With no one or nothing insight, his powers proved more useless than Kole's All he had was hand-to-hand combat and speed. His opponent was faster and more deadly up close. The girl crouched down in a fluid motion, spinning her outward leg underneath him while her left claw reopened the wound on his back. Blood splattered and infused with Kole's already present droplets.

A shadow bolted across the floor, latching onto the girl's ankle and tossing her casually. Another shadow in the form of a raven emerged.

"Tend to Kole," Raven commanded while facing the enemy.

Without a second glance, he rushed to Kole's side. The diamond encasement slowly dissipated, Kole's pale face looked up, "Damn it… I am not fast enough…"

He could not tell if the fact she was helpless in this situation or the sheer pain of her injuries bothered her more. Using the uttermost care, he peeled away the fluid encrusted garments wrapped around her abdomen. A quick breath escaped her lips from the sudden exposure to the cold air. The wounds caused by the blades ran deep with tinges of purple liquid pooling around the sides. Blisters formed around the edges of the marks, turning red before bursting and releasing puss. Poison. Their enemy laced her blades. The sudden effects of the poison resonated in the tinge of Kole's face. The pigment of her skin drained of its healthy, cream color to an unmistakable green.

Time was running out.

A distant grunt and a rumble sounded. The cat-faced villain slammed him into the wall. A crack shocked his body.

"Jericho!"

Kole's voice snapped him quickly out of his daze. On his side, Raven slowly uncurled. The battle had taken its tole on her. A pattern of blistering slashes decorating her pale, grey arms. He pinned Raven to the ground. _Sit still_, he thought. Once his eyes met the deep purple hues belonging to his teammate, he melded with her. The two become one, with Jericho holding the reigns. Sorcery coursed through her veins, giving him the power he needed and slowly healing the wounds she attained. The dark magic glided from her fingertips, wrapping around the body of his enemy. Swiping, the cat-faced girl danced out of his trap towards Kole. Returning to a defensive mode, Kole encased herself.

Continuing her deadly dance, she caressed the encased Kole ever so slightly, sending her careening towards the raging waves below. Utilizing Raven's power as a spring, he freed himself from Raven's body and catapulted off the edge. A delicate hand reached out for his as they freefell towards the water. Their hands interlaced. His freehand latched onto a dislodged brick. Back and forth, they swung in limbo. Their cat-faced nemesis peered over the edge before taking her leave in a graceful leap.

_What to do? What to do? I cannot let her fall,_ his grip loosened each passing moment.

A steady stream of blood and pus trickled from the deep set slash marks across Kole's chest. The rhythm of her chest began to slow. The poison began to take its toll. The more time he wasted, the worse off Kole became. The only chance of survival for her was to enter her defense mode. From what he understood, the diamond casing kept her alive no matter what the circumstances. She could survive the fall; the Titans could recover her, and give her immediate medical attention. One problem… she was wavering in and out of consciousness, and he had no means of relaying the message.

"Jericho…"

His gaze fell downward as he gave a reassuring smile. _Please, stay with me._

Those words of encouragement rang in his mind as his hand slipped from the brick, sending the two of them towards the waves below. Kole's clear blue eyes widened as he took her face in his hands. Tenderly, he pressed his lips against hers while focusing on her pupils. A pulsating feeling ran through them as Kole and Jericho intermingled. If he was going to save Kole, he had to hurry. He shifted through her memories, thoughts, hopes, and dreams. Finally, he flicked her ability like a switch right as she lost consciousness and forced him out of her body.

Salt water flooded into his lungs and temperature of the water chattered his teeth. Joey gasped for air as a wave forced him underwater. Tossing and turning with the current, he whipped around to see the encased Kole floating to the bottom. When he fought to the surface, Raven's face loomed over him. Looking down from the ledge of the warehouse, her grimace said it all. Her voice pierced his mind. _I know your secret._

The force of a wave pushed him into the depths.

Raven knows everything. How could he have been so careless? Once he entered into Raven's body, their minds opened up to each other completely. He could see into her soul. All of her deepest emotions, secrets, and fears lay out before him like an open book. His power proved a double-edged sword. His childhood, family, and father fell into Raven's lap. Such knowledge fell into the pit of his stomach. The beer that once sat warm in his stomach now bubbled. The sour beverage rushed through his throat. Kneeling in the sand, the beer reappeared before him. The sudden movement of his muscles caused the blood to rush to his newly opened wound. Blisters from the poison gushed puss and the purple substance. Blood and vomit soaked the sand around him. Living among the mountains with the monks taught him the basics of survival. At the rate in which he lost blood, he would be dead within a few hours. Unfortunately, he was not within the mountains of Tibet. No plants of medicinal properties could be found on the beach of Jump City.

Standing up, a sharp pain pinged through his rib cage. The altercation broke a left rib, causing him to clutch his side as he inched towards the shelter of a nearby cave on the beach. Blood droplets painted a trail across the white sand.

Upon entering his shelter; he felt the bitterness of the morning cold mixing with his soaked clothing. A pile of seaweed adjacent from him provided the only means of wrapping his wounds. Beads of sweat formed upon his temples. A fever began to take hold. The bitter cold, the poison, blood-loss, and sheer exhaustion lulled him into a restless sleep.

"Dad!"

A familiar thick, crimson mist surrounded Joseph.

"Dad!"

The thick mist captivated his senses. Blood entered his lungs, seeped into his skin, tickled at his tongue, suffocating him. Before him stood a small, blond child with hands glued to his face as if to stop the tears streaming down his cheeks. His legs automatically motioned towards the child. The fog wrapped around his ankles, holding him in place. Hands shot from the mist, pulling him down.

"No!" he shouted alarmed by his own voice. His voice? It had been so long since he had heard sound emanating from his vocal chords. The noise shocked him almost as much as the obvious tone of fear.

"Surprised?"

Emerging from the blood-dyed shadows, his father loomed over the crying child. One of his gloved hands fell upon the child's shoulder, comforting the child into silence. A few more sniffles sounded before the child's eyes pierced fear into his mind. He was face-to-face with himself as a child. The clear cut wound caused by a knife lay prominent across the child's throat.

* * *

I believe it has been over a year since I have updated any of my stories. I apologize. Also if this chapter offended anyone, I am also sorry. It is a bit heavy in comparison to the previous chapters. I do not condone underage drinking, but it seemed befitting of the times and of the scenario. Also if the graphic nature of the chapter was disturbing, I am sorry. It will be used sparingly.

Thanks for being so loyal and providing such nice support. ^^ Reviews and general commentary are appreciated.


	7. Body

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Teen Titans or any of their characters.

**Chapter Seven: **Body

"His blood pressure is dropping at an alarming rate."

The oxygen mask covering Joseph's face intensified the glare from the fluorescent lights. The steady beat of the complicated machines surrounding him suddenly became alarming. Panic set in as his eyes darted around the room only to see unfamiliar masked faces covered in stained red aprons. Blood? Was that his blood? Mom? Where was his mother? Tears began to well up on the rims of his eyes as his chest painfully compressed in anticipation for a scream. His mouth opened and his neck lurched within pain.

No sound. Why could he not hear himself scream?

The taste of blood suddenly flooded into his mouth as he began choking on the liquid clogging his throat. Pain set in his gullet. He accelerated his breathing in hopes of gaining some control over the situation.

A nurse came into his line of vision only to remove his mask and replace it with new tube attached to a gas tank. Joey's head recoiled in defense as a funny smell entered his nostrils lulling him into a false sense of security and drowsiness.

"I can't believe this. He is only a child. Has anyone told his father?"

Father? Where was his father? With the final amount of energy he could muster, Joey's head fell to the side. Behind the glass stood his father dressed in one of his best suits with his head buried in his hands. Joseph could have sworn he saw tears stream down his father's stone face before the world faded to black.

Joey frantically gasped for air, only to awake to the same sterile white walls and melody of the heart rate machines within his dream. Flexing his muscles to attain the normal position of sitting upright proved impossible. Thick, leather straps confined him to the cold, stainless steel operating table while the sudden rush of blood left him lightheaded. The pace of the heart monitor increased with his gasping breath as panic set in. No more hospitals. He had seen too many hospitals within his lifetime ever be comfortable within such a setting. At a young age, he had been programmed to believe that doctors only disclosed bad news. His struggle for freedom continued.

"My, my, Joseph Wilson," a voice cooed from his blind spot followed by the echo of high-heeled steps. "Damn, you are so feisty. Meow!"

With one final strain against the straps, Jericho recoiled against the metal table, feeling the throbbing pain of his back injury for the first time. The pulse of the blood speeding throughout his veins and drumming against his temples created a hazy film in front of his eyes and a distant resonance in his ears. Such a distinctive mannerism and voice pitch should have immediately registered within is above average mind. However, under the circumstances, his mind was slowed down to the speed of a young child as the heels clicked closer.

A weight fell onto the table next to him accompanied with an unfamiliar but sweet scent. Slowly, his bloodshot green eyes feverishly fell upon what appeared to be a blond nurse with cat ears.

"Now, now. Nurse Kitten is here to make all the hurt go away."

The utterance of her name snapped him back into reality as the film in front of his eyes dispersed. Seated cross-legged in a skirted-nurse's uniform seductively hiked up along her sun-kissed thighs, Kitten flicked the edge of a syringe. Joseph twisted away in a futile desire to escape. The movement proved detrimental as the intensity of the movement recalled the memory of his broken rib accompanied by the blood poisoning and multiple deep gashes cascading across his form.

"Such persistence really gets a girl goin'."

In one flawless motion, Kitten straddled him along the waistline still seductively wielding the syringe. Her perfectly manicured nails slid along his forearm until sliding the sleeves of his hospital gown up to his broad shoulders. Involuntarily Joey's heart-rate began to increase. The pounding against his chest caused more pain than pleasure within his hormonal teenage body. How could this situation be pleasurable? His mind could not fathom the reasoning behind his current… predicament. The dangerous rhythm of his heartbeat did not appear to deter Kitten from her desire. A devilish smirk crossed her lips as she bent forward presenting him with a view of the low-cut nature of her nurse's uniform. It slowly began to dawn on him that real nurses did not wear such attire.

Her lips brushed lazily against the sensitive, exposed skin of his forearm giving him unpleasant chills before she jabbed the syringe into his arm with a giggle. Panting, the torture slammed his eyes shut. Kitten pressed on. For a brief moment, her fingers danced around the collar of the gown before exposing his bruised, beaten and bare chest.

"Don't struggle, hun. The meds won't kick in for a while. Time to play," she suggested tenderly brushing her nails against the edge of the bandages decorating his torso. "Such fair skin ruined by foul play all for the sake of some strawberry-blond bimbo."

Jericho clenched his jaw, fighting to regain control of his own body… or at least his staggered breathing. Dazed, he looked up at the ceiling barely following the distant mumbles. The will to fight back began to fade, overpowered by the physical strain on his body.

Her hands drifted into his tousled curls. Each finger wrapped around the blond spirals as she began kissing the curves surrounding his neck and shoulders. While normal people could verbally protest to such behavior, Jericho found himself just numbly succumbing to her advances. Kitten's kisses began to trace down his body…

Joey took a final, deep breath before closing himself off to the surrounding world.

"Kitten!" A door slam thrust him back into reality with a gasp.

His wide, green eyes searched frantically around the room only to rest upon a figure dressed completely in black. The sudden entrance of the masked stranger caused a distraught Kitten to tumble off of the table.

Returning to her feet she cursed, "Damn it, Red X. I thought I had locked that door."

A chuckled sounded from behind the mask of the stranger. "What's with the get-up?"

The stranger never glanced in Jericho's direction. Instead his body remained in aligned with Kitten, who know appeared flustered and upset at both his sudden intrusion and unwelcomed comments.

"You jackass," she growled before she flipped back to a more sultry persona. "I was goin' for Harley Quinn. She once dressed up as a nurse, ya know. Ya like?"

Another chuckle bellowed, "You are no Harley Quinn. Stop playing around with the boss' son. He wants to see you. Now."

On that note, he motioned for Kitten to make her exit. She exited swaying her hips in an overly, dramatized manner with the stranger closing the door behind them. There, Jericho laid among the hum of the fluorescent lights and the loneliness of an empty infirmary.

* * *

Short update! But, it IS an update. I was going to add another portion onto this chapter, but decided otherwise. I feel it deserves to stand on its own and short chapters are not necessarily a bad notion every once and a while. I am going to try to add another chapter very soon with a SPECIAL character making an appearance. I am very excited. Thank you for putting up with the twisting of the characters and Joey will get better. He is just a little worse for wear right now.

Love you all. :)


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